Plant choline phosphate cytidylyltransferase

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to an isolated nucleic acid fragment encoding a cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase. The invention also relates to the construction of a chimeric gene encoding all or a portion of the cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase, in sense or antisense orientation, wherein expression of the chimeric gene results in production of altered levels of the cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase in a transformed host cell.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/170,375, filed Dec. 13, 1999.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is in the field of plant molecular biology. More specifically, this invention pertains to nucleic acid fragments encoding choline phosphate cytidylyltransferase in plants and seeds.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylserine (PS), phosphatidylinositol (PI), phosphatidylglycerol (PG) and diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG) are among the major phospholipids found in plant tissues. The distribution of these lipids among the various organelles of different tissues and among different plants has been comprehensively studied. The pathways by which these lipids are synthesized have also been studied extensively but very few of the plant enzymes involved in these pathways have been purified or their corresponding genes cloned.

Choline phosphate cytidylyltransferase (also called CTP: choline phosphate cytidylyltransferase; E.C. 2.7.7.15) catalyzes the conversion of ethanolamine and choline phosphate to their respective CDP-aminoalcohols. Choline phosphate cytidylyltransferase is thought to regulate the flux through the CDP-choline pathway for PC biosynthesis. In animal and plant cell extracts the choline phosphate cytidylyltransferase enzymatic activity is found in the soluble and in the membrane fractions. It has been proposed that the animal and plant choline phosphate cytidylyltransferases are regulated by the lipid-promoted translocation of the enzyme from the cytosol to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In this scenario, the enzyme is inactive while in the cytosole and reversible phosphorylation results in binding to the ER membrane and activation of the enzyme.

cDNAs encoding the rat and yeast choline phosphate cytidylyltransferase proteins have been identified (Kalmar et al. (1990) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87:6029-6033; Tsukagoshi et al. (1987) Eur. J. Biochem. 169:477-486). Pea, rape, and castor bean cDNAs encoding choline phosphate cytidylyltransferases have also been identified (Jones et al. (1998) Plant Mol. Biol. 37:179-185; Nishida et al. (1996) Plant Mol. Biol. 31:205-211; Wang and Moore (1991) Plant Physiol. 96(suppl.):126). Comparison of the amino acid sequences of the rat and yeast choline phosphate cytidylyltransferase show a highly conserved central region surrounded by divergent amino- and carboxy-terminal domains.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention concerns an isolated polynucleotide that encodes a first polypeptide of at least 60 amino acids having at least 90% identity based on the Clustal method of alignment when compared to a second polypeptide having an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:6, 8, 10, 16, and 22. The present furhter concerns an isoalted polynucleotide that encodes a third polypeptide of at least 210 amino acids having at least 90% identity based on the Clustal method of alignment when compared to a fourth polypeptide having an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:2, 4, 14, 18, and 20.

In a second embodiment the first polynucleotide comprises a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, and 21.

In a third embodiment, this invention concerns an isolated polynucleotide encoding a cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase.

In a fourth embodiment, this invention relates to an isolated complement of the polynucleotide of the present invention, wherein the complement and the polynucleotide consist of the same number of nucleotides and the nucleotide sequence and the complement share 100% complementarity.

In a fifth embodiment, the present invention concerns an isolated polynucleotide that comprises at least 180 nucleotides and remains hybridized to the isolated first polynucleotide of the present invention under a wash condition of 0.1×SSC, 0.1% SDS, and 65° C.

In a sixth embodiment, the invention also relates to a cell comprising an isolated polynucleotide of the present invention. The cell may be a yeast cell, a bacterial cell, or a plant cell. The plant cell may be regenerated into a transgenic plant.

In a seventh embodiment, the invention concerns a method for transforming a cell comprising introducing into a cell the first polynucleotide of the present invention and regenerating a plant from the transformed plant.

In an eighth embodiment, the invention relates to a first isolated polypeptide of at least 60 amino acids having at least 90% identity based on the Clustal method of alignment when compared to a second polypeptide having an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:6, 8, 10, 16, and 22. The invention further relates to a third isolated polypeptide of at least 210 amino acids having at least 90% identity based on the Clustal method of alignment when compared to a fourth polypeptide having an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:2, 4, 14, 18, and 20. The isolated polypeptide may have a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, 18, 20, and 22, and may encode a cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase.

In a ninth embodiment, the invention concerns a chimeric gene comprising an isolated polynucleotide of the present invention operably linked to at least one regulatory sequence.

In a tenth embodiment, this invention relates to a method of altering the level of a cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase in a host cell, the method comprising: (a) transforming a host cell with a chimeric gene of the present invention; and (b) growing the transformed host cell under conditions that are suitable for expression of the chimeric gene wherein expression of the chimeric gene results in altered levels of the cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase in the transformed host cell.

A further embodiment.of the instant invention is a method for evaluating at least one compound for its ability to inhibit the activity of a cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase, the method comprising the steps of: (a) transforming a host cell with a chimeric gene comprising a nucleic acid fragment encoding a cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase polypeptide, operably linked to suitable regulatory sequences; (b) growing the transformed host cell under conditions that are suitable for expression of the chimeric gene wherein expression of the chimeric gene results in production of cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase in the transformed host cell; (c) optionally purifying the cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase polypeptide expressed by the transformed host cell; (d) treating the cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase polypeptide with a compound to be tested; and (e) comparing the activity of the cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase polypeptide that has been treated with a test compound to the activity of an untreated cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase polypeptide, and selecting compounds with potential for inhibitory activity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING AND SEQUENCE LISTINGS

The invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying Drawing and Sequence Listing which form a part of this application.

FIG. 1 depicts an alignment of the cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase from the corn contig assembled from clones cbn10.pk0039.g12, cc71se-b.pk0025.g3, cco1n.pk058.p11, chpc24.pk0001.d1, cpf1c.pk008.o17, cph1c.pk001.o9, cr1n.pk0094.e10, p0010.cbpcm55r, p0014.ctutl75r, p0016.ctsau28r, p0018.chsst50r, p0037.crwax43r, p0068.clsah01r, p0105.camaq62r, p0110.cgsnv50r, and p0127.cntba77r (SEQ ID NO:2), soybean clone sf11.pk130.e11 (SEQ ID NO:8), corn clone cbn10.pk0039.g12:fis (SEQ ID NO:12), the corn contig assembled of clones cen3n.pk0001.a4, cpe1c.pk003.p14, cr1n.pk0109.c11, cs1.pk0036.b7, p0121.cfrna59r, and p0128.cpiap69r (SEQ ID NO:14), rice clone rds3c.pk001.m16 (SEQ ID NO:16), rice clone rls6.pk0085.g3:fis (SEQ ID NO:18), the soybean contig assembled from PCR and clone sdp4c.pk014.b3 (SEQ ID NO:20), the wheat contig assembled from PCR and clone wlk8.pk0002.a5:fis (SEQ ID NO:22) with the brassica napus cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferases having NCBI General Identifier No. 7488484 (SEQ ID NO:23), 7488483 (SEQ ID NO:24), and 7488446 (SEQ ID NO:25). Amino acids conserved among all sequences are indicated by an asterisk (*) below the alignment. The amino acids corresponding to the catalytic core are underlined, and the putative HXGH motif is written in white and boxed in black. Dashes are used by the program to maximize the alignrnent.

Table 1 lists the plant source of the polynucleotides described herein, the designation of the cDNA clones that comprise the nucleic acid fragments encoding polypeptides representing all or a substantial portion of these polypeptides, and the corresponding identifier (SEQ ID NO:) as used in the attached Sequence Listing. The sequence descriptions and Sequence Listing attached hereto comply with the rules governing nucleotide and/or amino acid sequence disclosures in patent applications as set forth in 37 C.F.R. §1.821-1.825.

TABLE 1 Cholinephosphate Cytidylyltransferase SEQ ID NO: Plant Clone Designation (Nucleotide) (Amino Acid) Corn Contig of: 1 2 cbn10.pk0039.g12 cc71se-b.pk0025.g3 cco1n.pk058.p11 chpc24.pk0001.d1 cpf1c.pk008.o17 cph1c.pk001.o9 cr1n.pk0094.e10 p0010.cbpcm55r p0014.ctutl75r p0016.ctsau28r p0018.chsst50r p0037.crwax43r p0068.clsah01r p0105.camaq62r p0110.cgsnv50r p0127.cntba77r Rice rls6.pk0085.g3 3 4 Soybean sdp4c.pk014.b3 5 6 Soybean sfl1.pk130.e11 7 8 Wheat wlk8.pk0002.a5 9 10 Corn cbn10.pk0039.g12:fis 11 12 Corn Contig of: 13 14 cen3n.pk0001.a4 cpe1c.pk003.p14 cr1n.pk0109.c11 cs1.pk0036.b7 p0121.cfrna59r p0128.cpiap69r Rice rds3c.pk001.m16 15 16 Rice rls6.pk0085.g3:fis 17 18 Soybean PCR + 19 20 sdp4c.pk014.b3 Wheat PCR + 21 22 wlk8.pk0002.a5:fis Brassica napus NCBI GI No. 1418127 23 Brassica napus NCBI GI No. 1418125 24 Brassica napus NCBI GI No. 1416514 25

The Sequence Listing contains the one letter code for nucleotide sequence characters and the three letter codes for amino acids as defined in conformity with the IUPAC-IUBMB standards described in Nucleic Acids Res. 13:3021-3030 (1985) and in the Biochemical J. 219 (No. 2):345-373 (1984) which are herein incorporated by reference. The symbols and format used for nucleotide and amino acid sequence data comply with the rules set forth in 37 C.F.R. §1.822.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the context of this disclosure, a number of terms shall be utilized. The terms “polynucleotide”, “polynucleotide sequence”, “nucleic acid sequence”, and “nucleic acid fragment”/“isolated nucleic acid fragment” are used interchangeably herein. These terms encompass nucleotide sequences and the like. A polynucleotide may be a polymer of RNA or DNA that is single- or double-stranded, that optionally contains synthetic, non-natural or altered nucleotide bases. A polynucleotide in the form of a polymer of DNA may be comprised of one or more segments of cDNA, genomic DNA, synthetic DNA, or mixtures thereof. An isolated polynucleotide of the present invention may include at least 180 contiguous nucleotides derived from SEQ ID NOs:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, and 21, or the complement of such sequences.

The term “isolated” referes to materials, such as a nucleic acid moleucles and proteins, which are substantially free from components that normally accompany or interact with said materials in a naturally occurring environment. Isolated polynucleotides may be purified from a host cell in which they naturally occur. Conventional nucleic acid purification methods known to skilled artisans may be used to obtain isolated polynucleotides. The term also embraces recombinant polynucleotides and chemically synthesized polynucleotides.

The term “recombinant”means, for example, that a nucleic acid sequence is made by an artificial combination of two otherwise separated segments of sequence, e.g., by chemical synthesis or by the manipulation of isolated nucleic acids by genetic engineering techniques.

As used herein, “contig” refers to a nucleotide sequence that is assembled from two or more constituent nucleotide sequences that share common or overlapping regions of sequence homology. For example, the nucleotide sequences of two or more nucleic acid fragments can be compared and aligned in order to identify common or overlapping sequences. Where common or overlapping sequences exist between two or more nucleic acid fragments, the sequences (and thus their corresponding nucleic acid fragments) can be assembled into a single contiguous nucleotide sequence.

As used herein, “substantially similar” refers to nucleic acid fragments wherein changes in one or more nucleotide bases results in substitution of one or more amino acids, but do not affect the functional properties of the polypeptide encoded by the nucleotide sequence. “Substantially similar” also refers to nucleic acid fragments wherein changes in one or more nucleotide bases does not affect the ability of the nucleic acid fragment to mediate alteration of gene expression by gene silencing through for example antisense or co-suppression technology. “Substantially similar” also refers to modifications of the nucleic acid fragments of the instant invention such as deletion or insertion of one or more nucleotides that do not substantially affect the functional properties of the resulting transcript vis-à-vis the ability to mediate gene silencing or alteration of the functional properties of the resulting protein molecule. It is therefore understood that the invention encompasses more than the specific exemplary nucleotide or amino acid sequences and includes functional equivalents thereof. The terms “substantially similar” and “corresponding substantially” are used interchangeably herein.

Substantially similar nucleic acid fragments may be selected by screening nucleic acid fragments representing subfragments or modifications of the nucleic acid fragments of the instant invention, wherein one or more nucleotides are substituted, deleted and/or inserted, for their ability to affect the level of the polypeptide encoded by the unmodified nucleic acid fragment in a plant or plant cell. For example, a substantially similar nucleic acid fragment representing at least one of 30 contiguous nucleotides derived from the instant nucleic acid fragment can be constructed and introduced into a plant or plant cell. The level of the polypeptide encoded by the unmodified nucleic acid fragment present in a plant or plant cell exposed to the substantially similar nucleic fragment can then be compared to the level of the polypeptide in a plant or plant cell that is not exposed to the substantially similar nucleic acid fragment.

For example, it is well known in the art that antisense suppression and co-suppression of gene expression may be accomplished using nucleic acid fragments representing less than the entire coding region of a gene, and by using nucleic acid fragments that do not share 100% sequence identity with the gene to be suppressed. Moreover, alterations in a nucleic acid fragment which result in the production of a chemically equivalent amino acid at a given site, but do not effect the functional properties of the encoded polypeptide, are well known in the art. Thus, a codon for the amino acid alanine, a hydrophobic amino acid, may be substituted by a codon encoding another less hydrophobic residue, such as glycine, or a more hydrophobic residue, such as valine, leucine, or isoleucine. Similarly, changes which result in substitution of one negatively charged residue for another, such as aspartic acid for glutamnic acid, or one positively charged residue for another, such as lysine for arginine, can also be expected to produce a functionally equivalent product. Nucleotide changes which result in alteration of the N-terminal and C-terminal portions of the polypeptide molecule would also not be expected to alter the activity of the polypeptide. Each of the proposed modifications is well within the routine skill in the art, as is determination of retention of biological activity of the encoded products. Consequently, an isolated polynucleotide comprising a nucleotide sequence of at least 180 contiguous nucleotides derived from a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, and 21, and the complement of such nucleotide sequences may be used in methods of selecting an isolated polynucleotide that affects the expression of a cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase polypeptide in a host cell. A method of selecting an isolated polynucleotide that affects the level of expression of a polypeptide in a virus or in a host cell (eukaryotic, such as plant or yeast, prokaryotic such as bacterial) may comprise the steps of: constructing an isolated polynucleotide of the present invention or an isolated chimeric gene of the present invention; introducing the isolated polynucleotide or the isolated chimeric gene into a host cell; measuring the level of a polypeptide or enzyme activity in the host cell containing the isolated polynucleotide; and comparing the level of a polypeptide or enzyme activity in the host cell containing the isolated polynucleotide with the level of a polypeptide or enzyme activity in a host cell that does not contain the isolated polynucleotide.

Moreover, substantially similar nucleic acid fragments may also be characterized by their ability to hybridize. Estimates of such homology are provided by either DNA-DNA or DNA-RNA hybridization under conditions of stringency as is well understood by those skilled in the art (Hames and Higgins, Eds. (1985) Nucleic Acid Hybridisation, IRL Press, Oxford, U.K.). Stringency conditions can be adjusted to screen for moderately similar fragments, such as homologous sequences from distantly related organisms, to highly similar fragments, such as genes that duplicate functional enzymes from closely related organisms. Post-hybridization washes determine stringency conditions. One set of preferred conditions uses a series of washes starting with 6×SSC, 0.5% SDS at room temperature for 15 min, then repeated with 2×SSC, 0.5% SDS at 45° C. for 30 min, and then repeated twice with 0.2×SSC, 0.5% SDS at 50° C. for 30 min. A more preferred set of stringent conditions uses higher temperatures in which the washes are identical to those above except for the temperature of the final two 30 min washes in 0.2×SSC, 0.5% SDS was increased to 60° C. Another preferred set of highly stringent conditions uses two final washes in 0.1×SSC, 0.1% SDS at 65° C.

Substantially similar nucleic acid fragments of the instant invention may also be characterized by the percent identity of the amino acid sequences that they encode to the amino acid sequences disclosed herein, as determined by algorithms commonly employed by those skilled in this art. Suitable nucleic acid fragments (isolated polynucleotides of the present invention) encode polypeptides that are at least about 70% identical, preferably at least about 80% identical to the amino acid sequences reported herein. Preferred nucleic acid fragments encode amino acid sequences that are about 85% identical to the amino acid sequences reported herein. More preferred nucleic acid fragments encode amino acid sequences that are at least about 90% identical to the amino acid sequences reported herein. Most preferred are nucleic acid fragments that encode amino acid sequences that are at least about 95% identical to the amino acid sequences reported herein. Suitable nucleic acid fragments not only have the above identities but typically encode a polypeptide having at least 50 amino acids, preferably at least 100 amino acids, more preferably at least 150 amino acids, still more preferably at least 200 amino acids, and most preferably at least 250 amino acids. Sequence alignments and percent identity calculations were performed using the Megalign program of the LASERGENE bioinformatics computing suite (DNASTAR Inc., Madison, Wis.). Multiple alignment of the sequences was performed using the Clustal method of alignment (Higgins and Sharp (1989) CABIOS. 5:151-153) with the default parameters (GAP PENALTY=10, GAP LENGTH PENALTY=10). Default parameters for pairwise alignments using the Clustal method were KTUPLE 1, GAP PENALTY=3, WINDOW=5 and DIAGONALS SAVED=5.

A “substantial portion” of an amino acid or nucleotide sequence comprises an amino acid or a nucleotide sequence that is sufficient to afford putative identification of the protein or gene that the amino acid or nucleotide sequence comprises. Amino acid and nucleotide sequences can be evaluated either manually by one skilled in the art, or by using computer-based sequence comparison and identification tools that employ algorithms such as BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool; Altschul et al. (1993) J. Mol. Biol. 215:403-410. In general, a sequence of ten or more contiguous amino acids or thirty or more contiguous nucleotides is necessary in order to putatively identify a polypeptide or nucleic acid sequence as homologous to a known protein or gene. Moreover, with respect to nucleotide sequences, gene-specific oligonucleotide probes comprising 30 or more contiguous nucleotides may be used in sequence-dependent methods of gene identification (e.g., Southern hybridization) and isolation (e.g., in situ hybridization of bacterial colonies or bacteriophage plaques). In addition, short oligonucleotides of 12 or more nucleotides may be used as amplification primers in PCR in order to obtain a particular nucleic acid fragment comprising the primers. Accordingly, a “substantial portion” of a nucleotide sequence comprises a nucleotide sequence that will afford specific identification and/or isolation of a nucleic acid fragment comprising the sequence. The instant specification teaches amino acid and nucleotide sequences encoding polypeptides that comprise one or more particular plant proteins. The skilled artisan, having the benefit of the sequences as reported herein, may now use all or a substantial portion of the disclosed sequences for purposes known to those skilled in this art. Accordingly, the instant invention comprises the complete sequences as reported in the accompanying Sequence Listing, as well as substantial portions of those sequences as defined above.

“Codon degeneracy” refers to divergence in the genetic code permitting variation of the nucleotide sequence without an effect on the amino acid sequence of the encoded polypeptide. Accordingly, the instant invention relates to any nucleic acid fragment comprising a nucleotide sequence that encodes all or a substantial portion of the amino acid sequences set forth herein. The skilled artisan is well aware of the “codon-bias” exhibited by a specific host cell in usage of nucleotide codons to specify a given amino acid. Therefore, when synthesizing a nucleic acid fragment for improved expression in a host cell, it is desirable to design the nucleic acid fragment such that its frequency of codon usage approaches the frequency of preferred codon usage of the host cell.

“Synthetic nucleic acid fragments” can be assembled from oligonucleotide building blocks that are chemically synthesized using procedures known to those skilled in the art. These building blocks are ligated and annealed to form larger nucleic acid fragments which may then be enzymatically assembled to construct the entire desired nucleic acid fragment. “Chemically synthesized”, as related to a nucleic acid fragment, means that the component nucleotides were assembled in vitro. Manual chemical synthesis of nucleic acid fragments may be accomplished using well established procedures, or automated chemical synthesis can be performed using one of a number of commercially available machines. Accordingly, the nucleic acid fragments can be tailored for optimal gene expression based on optimization of the nucleotide sequence to reflect the codon bias of the host cell. The skilled artisan appreciates the likelihood of successful gene expression if codon usage is biased towards those codons favored by the host. Determination of preferred codons can be based on a survey of genes derived from the host cell where sequence information is available.

“Gene” refers to a nucleic acid fragment that expresses a specific protein, including regulatory sequences preceding (5′ non-coding sequences) and following (3′ non-coding sequences) the coding sequence. “Native gene” refers to a gene as found in nature with its own regulatory sequences. “Chimeric gene” refers any gene that is not a native gene, comprising regulatory and coding sequences that are not found together in nature. Accordingly, a chimeric gene may comprise regulatory sequences and coding sequences that are derived from different sources, or regulatory sequences and coding sequences derived from the same source, but arranged in a manner different than that found in nature. “Endogenous gene” refers to a native gene in its natural location in the genome of an organism. A “foreign-gene” refers to a gene not normnally found in the host organism, but that is introduced into the host organism by gene transfer. Foreign genes can comprise native genes inserted into a non-native organism, or chimeric genes. A “transgene” is a gene that has been introduced into the genome by a transformation procedure.

“Coding sequence” refers to a nucleotide sequence that codes for a specific amino acid sequence. “Regulatory sequences” refer to nucleotide sequences located upstream (5′ non-coding sequences), within, or downstream (3′ non-coding sequences) of a coding sequence, and which influence the transcription, RNA processing or stability, or translation of the associated coding sequence. Regulatory sequences may include promoters, translation leader sequences, introns, and polyadenylation recognition sequences.

“Promoter” refers to a nucleotide sequence capable of controlling the expression of a coding sequence or functional RNA. In general, a coding sequence is located 3′ to a promoter sequence. The promoter sequence consists of proximal and more distal upstream elements, the latter elements often referred to as enhancers. Accordingly, an “enhancer” is a nucleotide sequence which can stimulate promoter activity and may be an innate element of the promoter or a heterologous element inserted to enhance the level or tissue-specificity of a promoter. Promoters may be derived in their entirety from a native gene, or may be composed of different elements derived from different promoters found in nature, or may even comprise synthetic nucleotide segments. It is understood by those skilled in the art that different promoters may direct the expression of a gene in different tissues or cell types, or at different stages of development, or in response to different environmental conditions. Promoters which cause a nucleic acid fragment to be expressed in most cell types at most times are commonly referred to as “constitutive promoters”. New promoters of various types useful in plant cells are constantly being discovered; numerous examples may be found in the compilation by Okamuro and Goldberg (1989) Biochemistry of Plants 15:1-82. It is further recognized that since in most cases the exact boundaries of regulatory sequences have not been completely defined, nucleic acid fragments of different lengths may have identical promoter activity.

“Translation leader sequence” refers to a nucleotide sequence located between the promoter sequence of a gene and the coding sequence. The translation leader sequence is present in the fully processed mRNA upstream of the translation start sequence. The translation leader sequence may affect processing of the primary transcript to mRNA, mRNA stability or translation efficiency. Examples of translation leader sequences have been described (Turner and Foster (1995) Mol. Biotechnol. 3:225-236).

“3′ non-coding sequences” refer to nucleotide sequences located downstream of a coding sequence and include polyadenylation recognition sequences and other sequences encoding regulatory signals capable of affecting mRNA processing or gene expression. The polyadenylation signal is usually characterized by affecting the addition of polyadenylic acid tracts to the 3′ end of the mRNA precursor. The use of different 3′ non-coding sequences is exemplified by Ingelbrecht et al. (1989) Plant Cell 1:671-680.

“RNA transcript” refers to the product resulting from RNA polymerase-catalyzed transcription of a DNA sequence. When the RNA transcript is a perfect complementary copy of the DNA sequence, it is referred to as the primary transcript or it may be a RNA sequence derived from posttranscriptional processing of the primary transcript and is referred to as the mature RNA. “Messenger RNA (mRNA)” refers to the RNA that is without introns and that can be translated into polypeptides by the cell. “cDNA” refers to DNA that is complementary to and derived from an mRNA template. The cDNA can be single-stranded or converted to double stranded form using, for example, the Klenow fragment of DNA polymerase I. “Sense-RNA” refers to an RNA transcript that includes the mRNA and so can be translated into a polypeptide by the cell. “Antisense RNA” refers to an RNA transcript that is complementary to all or part of a target primary transcript or mRNA and that blocks the expression of a target gene (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,065, incorporated herein by reference). The complementarity of an antisense RNA may be with any part of the specific nucleotide sequence, i.e., at the 5′ non-coding sequence, 3′ non-coding sequence, introns, or the coding sequence. “Functional RNA” refers to sense RNA, antisense RNA, ribozyme RNA, or other RNA that may not be translated but yet has an effect on cellular processes.

The term “operably linked” refers to the association of two or more nucleic acid fragments on a single polynucleotide so that the function of one is affected by the other. For example, a promoter is operably linked with a coding sequence when it is capable of affecting the expression of that coding sequence (i.e., that the coding sequence is under the transcriptional control of the promoter). Coding sequences can be operably linked to regulatory sequences in sense or antisense orientation.

The term “expression”, as used herein, refers to the transcription and stable accumulation of sense (mRNA) or antisense RNA derived from the nucleic acid fragment of the invention. Expression may also refer to translation of mRNA into a polypeptide. “Antisense inhibition” refers to the production of antisense RNA transcripts capable of suppressing the expression of the target protein. “Overexpression” refers to the production of a gene product in transgenic organisms that exceeds levels of production in normal or non-transformed organisms. “Co-suppression” refers to the production of sense RNA transcripts capable of suppressing the expression of identical or substantially similar foreign or endogenous genes (U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,020, incorporated herein by reference).

A “protein” or “polypeptide” is a chain of amino acids arranged in a specific order determined by the coding sequence in a polynucleotide encoding the polypeptide. Each protein or polypeptide has a unique function.

“Altered levels” or “altered expression” refers to the production of gene product(s) in transgenic organisms in amounts or proportions that differ from that of normal or non-transformed organisms.

“Null mutant” refers here to a host cell which either lacks the expression of a certain polypeptide or expresses a polypeptide which is inactive or does not have any detectable expected enzymatic function.

“Mature protein” or the term “mature” when used in describing a protein refers to a post-translationally processed polypeptide; i.e., one from which any pre- or propeptides present in the primary translation product have been removed. “Precursor protein” or the term “precursor” when used in describing a protein refers to the primary product of translation of mRNA; i.e., with pre- and propeptides still present. Pre- and propeptides may be but are not limited to intracellular localization signals.

A “chloroplast transit peptide” is an amino acid sequence which is translated in conjunction with a protein and directs the protein to the chloroplast or other plastid types present in the cell in which the protein is made. “Chloroplast transit sequence” refers to a nucleotide sequence that encodes a chloroplast transit peptide. A “signal peptide” is an amino acid sequence which is translated in conjunction with a protein and directs the protein to the secretory system (Chrispeels (1991) Ann. Rev. Plant Phys. Plant Mol. Biol. 42:21-53). If the protein is to be directed to a vacuole, a vacuolar targeting signal (supra) can further be added, or if to the endoplasmic reticulum, an endoplasmic reticulum retention signal (supra) may be added. If the protein is to be directed to the nucleus, any signal peptide present should be removed and instead a nuclear localization signal included (Raikhel (1992) Plant Phys. 100:1627-1632).

“Transformation” refers to the transfer of a nucleic acid fragment into the genome of a host organism, resulting in genetically stable inheritance. Host organisms containing the transformed nucleic acid fragments are referred to as “transgenic” organisms. Examples of methods of plant transformation include Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (De Blaere et al. (1987) Meth. Enzymol. 143:277) and particle-accelerated or “gene gun” transformation technology (Klein et al. (1987) Nature (London) 327:70-73; U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,050, incorporated herein by reference). Thus, isolated polynucleotides of the present invention can be incorporated into recombinant constructs, typically DNA constructs, capable of introduction into and replication in a host cell. Such a construct can be a vector that includes a replication system and sequences that are capable of transcription and translation of a polypeptide-encoding sequence in a given host cell. A number of vectors suitable for stable transfection of plant cells or for the establishment of transgenic plants have been described in, e.g., Pouwels et al., Cloning Vectors: A Laboratory Manual, 1985, supp. 1987; Weissbach and Weissbach, Methods for Plant Molecular Biology, Academic Press, 1989; and Flevin et al., Plant Molecular Biology Manual, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1990. Typically, plant expression vectors include, for example, one or more cloned plant genes under the transcriptional control of 5′ and 3′ regulatory sequences and a dominant selectable marker. Such plant expression vectors also can contain a promoter regulatory region (e.g., a regulatory region controlling inducible or constitutive, environmentally- or developmentally-regulated, or cell- or tissue-specific expression), a transcription initiation start site, a ribosome binding site, an RNA processing signal, a transcription termination site, and/or a polyadenylation signal.

Standard recombinant DNA and molecular cloning techniques used herein are well known in the art and are described more fully in Sambrook et al. Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press: Cold Spring Harbor, 1989 (hereinafter “Maniatis”).

“PCR” or “polymerase chain reaction” is well known by those skilled in the art as a technique used for the amplification of specific DNA segments (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,195 and 4,800,159).

The present invention concerns an isolated polynucleotide comprising a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of: (a) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide of at least 60 amino acids having at least 90% identity based on the Clustal method of alignment when compared to a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:6, 8, 10, 16, and 22; (b) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide of at least 210 amino acids having at least 90% identity based on the Clustal method of alignment when compared to a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:2, 4, 12, 14, 18, and 20; and (c) a nucleotide sequence comprising the complement of (a) or (b).

The present invention refers to a nucleotide sequence comprising a nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, and 21.

Nucleic acid fragments encoding at least a portion of several cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferases have been isolated and identified by comparison of random plant cDNA sequences to public databases containing nucleotide and protein sequences using the BLAST algorithms well known to those skilled in the art. The nucleic acid fragments of the instant invention may be used to isolate cDNAs and genes encoding homologous proteins from the same or other plant species. Isolation of homologous genes using sequence-dependent protocols is well known in the art. Examples of sequence-dependent protocols include, but are not limited to, methods of nucleic acid hybridization, and methods of DNA and RNA amplification as exemplified by various uses of nucleic acid amplification technologies (e.g., polymerase chain reaction, ligase chain reaction).

For example, genes encoding other cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferases, either as cDNAs or genomic DNAs, could be isolated directly by using all or a portion of the instant nucleic acid fragments as DNA hybridization probes to screen libraries from any desired plant employing methodology well known to those skilled in the art. Specific oligonucleotide probes based upon the instant nucleic acid sequences can be designed and synthesized by methods known in the art (Maniatis). Moreover, an entire sequence can be used directly to synthesize DNA probes by methods known to the skilled artisan such as random primer DNA labeling, nick translation, end-labeling techniques, or RNA probes using available in vitro transcription systems. In addition, specific primers can be designed and used to amplify a part or all of the instant sequences. The resulting amplification products can be labeled directly during amplification reactions or labeled after amplification reactions, and used as probes to isolate full length cDNA or genomic fragments under conditions of appropriate stringency.

In addition, two short segments of the instant nucleic acid fragments may be used in polymerase chain reaction protocols to amplify longer nucleic acid fragments encoding homologous genes from DNA or RNA. The polymerase chain reaction may also be performed on a library of cloned nucleic acid fragments wherein the sequence of one primer is derived from the instant nucleic acid fragments, and the sequence of the other primer takes advantage of the presence of the polyadenylic acid tracts to the 3′ end of the mRNA precursor encoding plant genes. Alternatively, the second primer sequence may be based upon sequences derived from the cloning vector. For example, the skilled artisan can follow the RACE protocol (Frohman et al. (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:8998-9002) to generate cDNAs by using PCR to amplify copies of the region between a single point in the transcript and the 3′ or 5′ end. Primers oriented in the 3′ and 5′ directions can be designed from the instant sequences. Using commercially available 3′ RACE or 5′ RACE systems (BRL), specific 3′ or 5′ cDNA fragments can be isolated (Ohara et al. (1989) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:5673-5677; Loh et al. (1989) Science 243:217-220). Products generated by the 3′ and 5′ RACE procedures can be combined to generate full-length cDNAs (Frohman and Martin (1989) Techniques 1:165). Consequently, a polynucleotide comprising a nucleotide sequence of at least one of 60 (preferably one of at least 40, most preferably one of at least 30) contiguous nucleotides derived from a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, and 21 and the complement of such nucleotide sequences may be used in such methods to obtain a nucleic acid fragment encoding a substantial portion of an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide.

The present invention relates to a method of obtaining a nucleic acid fragment encoding a substantial portion of a cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase polypeptide, preferably a substantial portion of a plant cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase polypeptide, comprising the steps of: synthesizing an oligonucleotide primer comprising a nucleotide sequence of at least 30 (preferably at least 40, most preferably at least 60) contiguous nucleotides derived from a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, and 21, and the complement of such nucleotide sequences; and amplifying a nucleic acid fragment (preferably a cDNA inserted in a cloning vector) using the oligonucleotide primer. The amplified nucleic acid fragment preferably will encode a portion of a cholinephospbate cytidylyltransferase polypeptide.

Availability of the instant nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences facilitates immunological screening of cDNA expression libraries. Synthetic peptides representing portions of the instant amino acid sequences may be synthesized. These peptides can be used to immunize animals to produce polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies with specificity for peptides or proteins comprising the amino acid sequences. These antibodies can be then be used to screen cDNA expression libraries to isolate full-length cDNA clones of interest (Lerner (1984) Adv. Immunol. 36:1-34; Maniatis).

In another embodiment, this invention concerns viruses and host cells comprising either the chimeric genes of the invention as described herein or an isolated polynucleotide of the invention as described herein. Examples of host cells which can be used to practice the invention include, but are not limited to, yeast, bacteria, and plants.

As was noted above, the nucleic acid fragments of the instant invention may be used to create transgenic plants in which the disclosed polypeptides are present at higher or lower levels than normal or in cell types or developmental stages in which they are not normally found. This would have the effect of altering the level of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine in those cells. This will be useful for creating oils with different characteristics. Since choline phosphate cytidylyltransferase is a key regulatory enzyme in phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis by the nucleotide (aminoalcohol) pathway, it may be used to identify products which may act as crop protection chemicals.

Overexpression of the proteins of the instant invention may be accomplished by first constructing a chimeric gene in which the coding region is operably linked to a promoter capable of directing expression of a gene in the desired tissues at the desired stage of development. The chimeric gene may comprise promoter sequences and translation leader sequences derived from the same genes. 3′ Non-coding sequences encoding transcription termination signals may also be provided. The instant chimeric gene may also comprise one or more introns in order to facilitate gene expression.

Plasmid vectors comprising the instant isolated polynucleotide (or chimeric gene) may be constructed. The choice of plasmid vector is dependent upon the method that will be used to transform host plants. The skilled artisan is well aware of the genetic elements that must be present on the plasmid vector in order to successfully transform, select and propagate host cells containing the chimeric gene. The skilled artisan will also recognize that different independent transformation events will result in different levels and patterns of expression (Jones et al. (1985) EMBO J. 4:2411-2418; De Almeida et al. (1989) Mol. Gen. Genetics 218:78-86), and thus that multiple events must be screened in order to obtain lines displaying the desired expression level and pattern. Such screening may be accomplished by Southern analysis of DNA, Northern analysis of mRNA expression, Western analysis of protein expression, or phenotypic analysis.

For some applications it may be useful to direct the instant polypeptides to different cellular compartments, or to facilitate its secretion from the cell. It is thus envisioned that the chimeric gene described above may be further supplemented by directing the coding sequence to encode the instant polypeptides with appropriate intracellular targeting sequences such as transit sequences (Keegstra (1989) Cell 56:247-253), signal sequences or sequences encoding endoplasmic reticulum localization (Chrispeels (1991) Ann. Rev. Plant Phys. Plant Mol. Biol. 42:21-53), or nuclear localization signals (Raikhel (1992) Plant Phys. 100:1627-1632) with or without removing targeting sequences that are already present. While the references cited give examples of each of these, the list is not exhaustive and more targeting signals of use may be discovered in the future.

It may also be desirable to reduce or eliminate expression of genes encoding the instant polypeptides in plants for some applications. In order to accomplish this, a chimeric gene designed for co-suppression of the instant polypeptide can be constructed by linking a gene or gene fragment encoding that polypeptide to plant promoter sequences. Alternatively, a chimeric gene designed to express antisense RNA for all or part of the instant nucleic acid fragment can be constructed by linking the gene or gene fragment in reverse orientation to plant promoter sequences. Either the co-suppression or antisense chimeric genes could be introduced into plants via transformation wherein expression of the corresponding endogenous genes are reduced or eliminated.

Molecular genetic solutions to the generation of plants with altered gene expression have a decided advantage over more traditional plant breeding approaches. Changes in plant phenotypes can be produced by specifically inhibiting expression of one or more genes by antisense inhibition or cosuppression (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,190,931, 5,107,065 and 5,283,323). An antisense or cosuppression construct would act as a dominant negative regulator of gene activity. While conventional mutations can yield negative regulation of gene activity these effects are most likely recessive. The dominant negative regulation available with a transgenic approach may be advantageous from a breeding perspective. In addition, the ability to restrict the expression of a specific phenotype to the reproductive tissues of the plant by the use of tissue specific promoters may confer agronomic advantages relative to conventional mutations which may have an effect in all tissues in which a mutant gene is ordinarily expressed.

The person skilled in the art will know that special considerations are associated with the use of antisense or cosuppression technologies in order to reduce expression of particular genes. For example, the proper level of expression of sense or antisense genes may require the use of different chimeric genes utilizing different regulatory elements known to the skilled artisan. Once transgenic plants are obtained by one of the methods described above, it will be necessary to screen individual transgenics for those that most effectively display the desired phenotype. Accordingly, the skilled artisan will develop methods for screening large numbers of transformants. The nature of these screens will generally be chosen on practical grounds. For example, one can screen by looking for changes in gene expression by using antibodies specific for the protein encoded by the gene being suppressed, or one could establish assays that specifically measure enzyme activity. A preferred method will be one which allows large numbers of samples to be processed rapidly, since it will be expected that a large number of transfornants will be negative for the desired phenotype.

In another embodiment, the present invention concerns a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of a polypeptide of at least 60 amino acids having at least 90% identity based on the Clustal method of alignment when compared to a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:6, 8, 10, 16, and 22 and a polypeptide of at least amino acids that has at least 210 amino acids having at least 90% identity based on the Clustal method of alignment when compared to a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:2, 4, 12, 14, 18, and 20.

The instant polypeptides (or portions thereof) may be produced in heterologous host cells, particularly in the cells of microbial hosts, and can be used to prepare antibodies to these proteins by methods well known to those skilled in the art. The antibodies are useful for detecting the polypeptides of the instant invention in situ in cells or in vitro in cell extracts. Preferred heterologous host cells for production of the instant polypeptides are microbial hosts. Microbial expression systems and expression vectors containing regulatory sequences that direct high level expression of foreign proteins are well known to those skilled in the art. Any of these could be used to construct a chimeric gene for production of the instant polypeptides. This chimeric gene could then be introduced into appropriate microorganisms via transformation to provide high level expression of the encoded cholinephosphate cytidylyltransferase. An example of a vector for high level expression of the instant polypeptides in a bacterial host is provided (Example 6).

Additionally, the instant polypeptides can be used as targets to facilitate design and/or identification of inhibitors of those enzymes that may be useful as herbicides. This is desirable because the polypeptides described herein catalyze a key step in phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis by the nucleotide (aminoalcohol) pathway. Accordingly, inhibition of the activity of one or more of the enzymes described herein could lead to inhibition of plant growth. Thus, the instant polypeptides could be appropriate for new herbicide discovery and design.

All or a substantial portion of the polynucleotides of the instant invention may also be used as probes for genetically and physically mapping the genes that they are a part of, and used as markers for traits linked to those genes. Such information may be useful in plant breeding in order to develop lines with desired phenotypes. For example, the instant nucleic acid fragments may be used as restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers. Southern blots (Maniatis) of restriction-digested plant genomic DNA may be probed with the nucleic acid fragments of the instant invention. The resulting banding patterns may then be subjected to genetic analyses using computer programs such as MapMaker (Lander et al. (1987) Genomics 1:174-181) in order to construct a genetic map. In addition, the nucleic acid fragments of the instant invention may be used to probe Southern blots containing restriction endonuclease-treated genomic DNAs of a set of individuals representing parent and progeny of a defined genetic cross. Segregation of the DNA polymorphisms is noted and used to calculate the position of the instant nucleic acid sequence in the genetic map previously obtained using this population (Botstein et al. (1980) Am. J. Hum. Genet. 32:314-331).

The production and use of plant gene-derived probes for use in genetic mapping is described in Bernatzky and Tanksley (1986) Plant Mol. Biol. Reporter 4:37-41. Numerous publications describe genetic mapping of specific cDNA clones using the methodology outlined above or variations thereof. For example, F2 intercross populations, backcross populations, randomly mated populations, near isogenic lines, and other sets of individuals may be used for mapping. Such methodologies are well known to those skilled in the art.

Nucleic acid probes derived from the instant nucleic acid sequences may also be used for physical mapping (i.e., placement of sequences on physical maps; see Hoheisel et al. In: Nonmammalian Genomic Analysis: A Practical Guide, Academic press 1996, pp. 319-346, and references cited therein).

In another embodiment, nucleic acid probes derived from the instant nucleic acid sequences may be used in direct fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) mapping (Trask (1991) Trends Genet. 7:149-154). Although current methods of FISH mapping favor use of large clones (several to several hundred KB; see Laan et al. (1995) Genome Res. 5:13-20), improvements in sensitivity may allow performance of FISH mapping using shorter probes.

A variety of nucleic acid amplification-based methods of genetic and physical mapping may be carried out using the instant nucleic acid sequences. Examples include allele-specific amplification (Kazazian (1989) J. Lab. Clin. Med. 11:95-96), polymorphism of PCR-amplified fragments (CAPS; Sheffield et al. (1993) Genomics 16:325-332), allele-specific ligation (Landegren et al. (1988) Science 241:1077-1080), nucleotide extension reactions (Sokolov (1990) Nucleic Acid Res. 18:3671), Radiation Hybrid Mapping (Walter et al. (1997) Nat. Genet. 7:22-28) and Happy Mapping (Dear and Cook (1989) Nucleic Acid Res. 17:6795-6807). For these methods, the sequence of a nucleic acid fragment is used to design and produce primer pairs for use in the amplification reaction or in primer extension reactions. The design of such primers is well known to those skilled in the art. In methods employing PCR-based genetic mapping, it may be necessary to identify DNA sequence differences between the parents of the mapping cross in the region corresponding to the instant nucleic acid sequence. This, however, is generally not necessary for mapping methods.

Loss of function mutant phenotypes may be identified for the instant cDNA clones either by targeted gene disruption protocols or by identifying specific mutants for these genes contained in a maize population carrying mutations in all possible genes (Ballinger and Benzer (1989) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA 86:9402-9406; Koes et al. (1995) Proc. Natl. Acad Sci USA 92:8149-8153; Bensen et al. (1995) Plant Cell 7:75-84). The latter approach may be accomplished in two ways. First, short segments of the instant nucleic acid fragments may be used in polymerase chain reaction protocols in conjunction with a mutation tag sequence primer on DNAs prepared from a population of plants in which Mutator transposons or some other mutation-causing DNA element has been introduced (see Bensen, supra). The amplification of a specific DNA fragment with these primers indicates the insertion of the mutation tag element in or near the plant gene encoding the instant polypeptides. Alternatively, the instant nucleic acid fragment may be used as a hybridization probe against PCR amplification products generated from the mutation population using the mutation tag sequence primer in conjunction with an arbitrary genomic site primer, such as that for a restriction enzyme site-anchored synthetic adaptor. With either method, a plant containing a mutation in the endogenous gene encoding the instant polypeptides can be identified and obtained. This mutant plant can then be used to determine or confirm the natural function of the instant polypeptides disclosed herein.

EXAMPLES

The present invention is further defined in the following Examples, in which parts and percentages are by weight and degrees are Celsius, unless otherwise stated. It should be understood that these Examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only. From the above discussion and these Examples, one skilled in the art can ascertain the essential characteristics of this invention, and without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, can make various changes and modifications of the invention to adapt it to various usages and conditions. Thus, various modifications of the invention in addition to those shown and described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. Such modifications are also intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims.

The disclosure of each reference set forth herein is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Example 1 Composition of cDNA Libraries, Isolation and Seguencing of cDNA Clones

cDNA libraries representing mRNAs from various corn, rice, soybean, and wheat tissues were prepared. The characteristics of the libraries are described below.

TABLE 2 cDNA Libraries from Corn, Rice, Soybean, and Wheat Library Tissue Clone cbn10 Corn Developing Kernel (Embryo and cbn10.pk0039.g12 Endosperm); 10 Days After Pollination cc71se-b Corn Callus Type II Tissue, cc71se-b.pk0025.g3 Somatic Embryo Formed cco1n Corn Cob of 67 Day Old Plants Grown cco1n.pk058.p11 in Green House^(a) chpc24 Corn 8 Day Old Shoot Treated chpc24.pk0001.d1 24 Hours With PDO Herbicide^(b) cen3n Corn Endosperm 20 Days After cen3n.pk0001.a4 Pollination^(a) cpe1c Corn pooled BMS treated with cpe1c.pk003.p14 chemicals related to phosphatase^(c) cpf1c Corn pooled BMS treated with cpf1c.pk008.o17 chemicals related to protein synthesis^(d) cph1c Corn pooled BMS treated with cph1c.pk001.o9 chemicals related to redox ratio^(e) cr1n Corn Root From 7 Day Old Seedlings^(a) cr1n.pk0109.c11 cr1n Corn Root From 7 Day Old Seedlings^(a) cr1n.pk0094.e10 cs1 Corn Leaf Sheath From 5 Week Old cs1.pk0036.b7 Plant p0010 Corn Log Phase Suspension Cells p0010.cbpcm55r Treated With A23187^(f) to Induce Mass Apoptosis p0014 Corn Leaves 7 and 8 from Plant p0014.ctutl75r Transformed With G-protein Gene, C. heterostrophus Resistant p0016 Corn Tassel Shoots (0.1-1.4 cm), p0016.ctsau28r Pooled p0018 Corn Seedling After 10 Day Drought, p0018.chsst50r Heat Shocked for 24 Hours, Harvested After Recovery at Normal Growth Conditions for 8 Hours p0037 Corn V5^(g) Stage Roots Infested p0037.crwax43r With Corn Root Worm p0068 Corn Pericarp 28 Days After Pollination p0068.clsah01r p0105 Corn V5⁷ Stage Roots^(a) p0105.camaq62r p0110 Corn (Stages V3/V4⁷) Leaf Tissue p0110.cgsnv50r Minus Midrib Harvested 4 Hours, 24 Hours and 7 Days After Infiltration With Salicylic Acid, Pooled^(a) p0121 Corn Shank Ear Tissue Collected p0121.cfrna59r 5 Days After Pollination^(a) p0127 Corn Nucellus Tissue, 5 Days After p0127.cntba77r Silking^(a) p0128 Corn Primary and Secondary Immature p0128.cpiap69r Ear rds3c Rice Developing Seeds From Top of rds3c.pk001.m16 the Plant rlr6 Rice Leaf 15 Days After Germination, rls6.pk0085.g3 6 Hours After Infection of Strain Magaporthe grisea 4360-R-62 (AVR2-YAMO); Resistant sdp4c Soybean Developing Pods (10-12 mm) sdp4c.pk014.b3 sf11 Soybean Immature Flower sf11.pk130.e11 wlk8 Wheat Seedlings 8 Hours After wlk8.pk0002.a5 Treatment With^(h) ^(a)These libraries were normalized essentially as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,845, incorporated herein by reference. ^(b)Application of 2-[(2,4-dihydro-2,6,9-trimethyl[1]benzothiopyrano[4,3-c]pyrazol-8-yl)carbonyl]-1,3-cyclohexanedione S,S-dioxide; synthesis and methods of using this compound are described in WO 97/19087, incorporated herein by reference. ^(c)Chemicals used included okadaic acid, cyclosporin A, calyculin A, cypermethrin ^(d)Chemicals used included chloramphenicol, cyclohexamide, aurintricarboylic acid ^(e)Chemicals used included diphenylene iodonium Cl, H2O2, paraquat, glutathione, N-acetyl-L-cysteine, aminotriazole ^(f)A23187 is commercially available from several vendors including Calbiochem. ^(g)Corn developmental stages are explained in the publication “How a corn plant develops” from the Iowa State University Coop. Ext. Service Special Report No. 48 reprinted June 1993. ^(g)Application of 6-iodo-2-propoxy-3-propyl-4(3H)-quinazolinone; synthesis and methods of using this compound are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,747,497, incorporated herein by reference.

cDNA libraries may be prepared by any one of many methods available. For example, the cDNAs may be introduced into plasmid vectors by first preparing the cDNA libraries in Uni-ZAP™ XR vectors according to the manufacturer's protocol (Stratagene Cloning Systems, La Jolla, Calif.). The Uni-ZAP™ XR libraries are converted into plasmid libraries according to the protocol provided by Stratagene. Upon conversion, cDNA inserts will be contained in the plasmid vector pbluescript. In addition, the cDNAs may be introduced directly into precut Bluescript II SK(+) vectors (Stratagene) using T4 DNA ligase (New England Biolabs), followed by transfection into DH10B cells according to the manufacturer's protocol (GIBCO BRL Products). Once the cDNA inserts are in plasmid vectors, plasmid DNAs are prepared from randomly picked bacterial colonies containing recombinant pBluescript plasmids, or the insert cDNA sequences are amplified via polymerase chain reaction using primers specific for vector sequences flanking the inserted cDNA sequences. Amplified insert DNAs or plasmid DNAs are sequenced in dye-primer sequencing reactions to generate partial cDNA sequences (expressed sequence tags or “ESTs”; see Adams et al., (1991) Science 252:1651-1656). The resulting ESTs are analyzed using a Perkin Elmer Model 377 fluorescent sequencer.

Full-insert sequence (FIS) data is generated utilizing a modified transposition protocol. Clones identified for FIS are recovered from archived glycerol stocks as single colonies, and plasmid DNAs are isolated via alkaline lysis. Isolated DNA templates are reacted with vector primed M13 forward and reverse oligonucleotides in a PCR-based sequencing reaction and loaded onto automated sequencers. Confirmation of clone identification is performed by sequence alignment to the original EST sequence from which the FIS request is made.

Confirmed templates are transposed via the Primer Island transposition kit (PE Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif.) which is based upon the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ty1 transposable element (Devine and Boeke (1994) Nucleic Acids Res. 22:3765-3772). The in vitro transposition system places unique binding sites randomly throughout a population of large DNA molecules. The transposed DNA is then used to transform DH10B electro-competent cells (Gibco BRL/Life Technologies, Rockville, Md.) via electroporation. The transposable element contains an additional selectable marker (named DHFR; Fling and Richards (1983) Nucleic Acids Res. 11:5147-5158), allowing for dual selection on agar plates of only those subclones containing the integrated transposon. Multiple subclones are randomly selected from each transposition reaction, plasmid DNAs are prepared via alkaline lysis, and templates are sequenced (ABI Prism dye-terminator ReadyReaction mix) outward from the transposition event site, utilizing unique primers specific to the binding sites within the transposon.

Sequence data is collected (ABI Prism Collections) and assembled using Phred/Phrap (P. Green, University of Washington, Seattle). Phrep/Phrap is a public domain software program which re-reads the ABI sequence data, re-calls the bases, assigns quality values, and writes the base calls and quality values into editable output files. The Phrap sequence assembly program uses these quality values to increase the accuracy of the assembled sequence contigs. Assemblies are viewed by the Consed sequence editor (D. Gordon, University of Washington, Seattle).

In some of the clones the cDNA sequences start towards the 3′-terminus of the gene. In order to obtain the upstream information one of two different protocols, which use two rounds of PCR amplification, are followed. The first of these methods results in the production of a fragment of DNA containing part of the desired gene while the second method results in the production of a gene containing the entire open reading frame for a certain gene. In the first round of amplification both methods use a vector-specific (forward) primer corresponding to a portion of the vector located at the 5′-terminus of the clone. In this round of amplification the first method uses a gene-specific primer complementary to a portion of the already known sequence and the second method uses a gene-specific primer complementary to a region of the 3′-untranslated sequence (also referred to as UTR). The second round of amplification uses, in both cases, a nested set of primers. Both methods are used to amplify fragments from one or more libraries or a randomly-chosen pool of libraries. Library pools are prepared using from 3 to 5 different libraries and normalized to a uniform dilution. The resulting PCR fragment is ligated into a pBluescript vector using commercial kits and following the manufacturer's protocol. These kits are available from several companies including Invitrogen (Carlsbad, Calif.), Promega Biotech (Madison, Wis.), and Gibco-BRL (Gaithersburg, Md.). The plasmid DNA is isolated by alkaline lysis method and submitted for sequencing and assembly using Phred/Phrap, as above.

Example 2 Identification of cDNA Clones

cDNA clones encoding choline phosphate cytidylyltransferases were identified by conducting BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool; Altschul et al. (1993) J. Mol. Biol. 215:403-410) searches for similarity to sequences contained in the BLAST “nr” database (comprising all non-redundant GenBank CDS translations, sequences derived from the 3-dimensional structure BrookhaVen Protein Data Bank, the last major release of the SWISS-PROT protein sequence database, EMBL, and DDBJ databases). The cDNA sequences obtained in Example 1 were analyzed for similarity to all publicly available DNA sequences contained in the “nr” database using the BLASTN algorithm provided by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The DNA sequences were translated in all reading frames and compared for similarity to all publicly available protein sequences contained in the “nr” database using the BLASTX algorithm (Gish and States (1993) Nat. Genet. 3:266-272) provided by the NCBI. For convenience, the P-value (probability) of observing a match of a cDNA sequence to a sequence contained in the searched databases merely by chance as calculated by BLAST are reported herein as “pLog” values, which represent the negative of the logarithm of the reported P-value. Accordingly, the greater the pLog value, the greater the likelihood that the cDNA sequence and the BLAST “hit” represent homologous proteins.

ESTs submitted for analysis are compared to the genbank database as described above. ESTs that contain sequences more 5- or 3-prime can be found by using the BLASTn algorithm (Altschul et al (1997) Nucleic Acids Res. 25:3389-3402.) against the DuPont proprietary database comparing nucleotide sequences that share common or overlapping regions of sequence homology. Where common or overlapping sequences exist between two or more nucleic acid fragments, the sequences can be assembled into a single contiguous nucleotide sequence, thus extending the original fragment in either the 5 or 3 prime direction. Once the most 5-prime EST is identified, its complete sequence can be determined by Full Insert Sequencing as described in Example 1. Homologous genes belonging to different species can be found by comparing the amino acid sequence of a known gene (from either a proprietary source or a public database) against an EST database using the tBLASTn algorithm. The tBLASTn algorithm searches an amino acid query against a nucleotide database that is translated in all 6 reading frames. This search allows for differences in nucleotide codon usage between different species, and for codon degeneracy.

Example 3 Characterization of cDNA Clones Encoding Choline phosphate Cgtidvlyltransferase

The BLASTX search using the EST sequence from clones listed in Table 3 revealed similarity of the polypeptides encoded by the cDNAs to one Pisum sativum; and three Brassica napus choline phosphate cytidylyltransferases (NCBI General Identifier Nos. 1657382, 1418125, 1418127, and 1416514, respectively). Shown in Table 3 are the BLAST results for individual ESTs (“EST”) or for contigs assembled from two or more ESTs (“Contig”):

TABLE 3 BLAST Results for Sequences Encoding Polypeptides Homologous to Choline phosphate Cytidylyltransferases Sta- BLAST pLog Score to Clone tus 1418127 1418125 1657382 1416514 Contig of: Con- 141.00 140.00 114.00 140.00 cbn10.pk0039. tig g12 cc71se-b.pk0025. g3 cco1n.pk058.p11 chpc24.pk0001. d1 cpf1c.pk008.o17 cph1c.pk001.o9 cr1n.pk0094.e10 p0010.cbpcm55r p0014.ctutl75r p0016.ctsau28r p0018.chsst50r p0037.crwax43r p0068.clsah01r p0105.camaq62r p0110.cgsnv50r p0127.cntba77r rls6.pk0085.g3 EST 44.10 45.00 42.70 42.05 sdp4c.pk014.b3 EST 83.22 83.22 109.00 84.30 sf11.pk130.e11 EST 16.00 15.70 53.50 16.40 wlk8.pk0002.a5 EST 25.50 24.30 17.52 16.40

The sequence of the entire cDNA insert in clones cbn10.pk0039.g12, rls6.pk0085.g3, sdp4c.pk014.b3, and wlk8.pk0002.a5 was determined. PCR was used to find the 5′ terminus of clones sdp4c.pk014.b3 and wlk8.pk0002.a5, and further sequencing and searching of the DuPont proprietary database allowed the idenlification of other corn and rice clones encoding choline phosphlate cytidylyltransferases. The BLASTX search using the EST sequences from clones listed in Table 4 revealed similarly of the polypeptides encoded by the cDNAs to choline phosphate cytidylyltransferases from one Pisum sativum (NCBI General Identifier No. 1657382 or 7488791) and three Brassica napus (NCBI General Identifier Nos. 1418127, 1418125, 1416514 or 7488484, 7488483, 7488446). There are two NCBI General Identifier numbers for each sequence. This is probably due to the fact that the searches were done at different times during the year and the NCBI database is constantly being upgraded. The amino acid sequences are identical between 165738 and 7488791, between 1418127 and 7488484, between 1418125 and 7488483, and between 1416514 and 7488446. Shown in Table 4 are the BLAST results for individual ESTs (“EST”), or for sequences encoding an entire choline phosphate cytidylyttransferase derived frorm the sequences of the entire cDNA inserts comprising the indicated cDNA clones, contigs assembled from two or more ESTs, contigs of the entire cDNA insert in the indicated cDNA clone and PCR (“CGS”):

TABLE 4 BLAST Results for Sequences Encoding Polypeptides Homologous to Choline phosphate Cytidylyltransferases Sta- BLAST pLog Score Clone tus 7488791 7488484 7488483 7488446 cbn10.pk0039. CGS 117.00 123.00 123.00 120.00 g12:fis^(a) Contig of: CGS 109.00 110.00 108.00 107.00 cen3n.pk0001.a4 cpe1c.pk003.p14 cr1n.pk0109.c11 cs1.pk0036.b7 p0121.cfrna59r p0128.cpiap69r rds3c.pk001.m16 EST 85.50 86.52 86.52 86.00 rls6.pk0085. CGS 117.00 118.00 119.00 116.00 g3:fis^(a) PCR + CGS 124.00 123.00 123.00 124.00 sdp4c.pk014.b3 PCR + CGS 116.00 118.00 117.00 116.00 wlk8.pk0002.a5: fis ^(a)The BLAST search using these sequences revealed similarity to NCBI General Identifier Nos. 1657382, 1418127, 1418125, and 1416514.

Some of the amino acid sequences of the present invention contain a signal sequence and a mature protein. The amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:2 contains a signal sequence (amino acids 1-23) and a mature protein (amino acids 24-349). The amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:4 contains a signal sequence (amino acids 1-25) and a mature protein (amino acids 26-149). The amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:12 contains a signal sequence (amino acids 1-23) and a mature protein (amino acids 24-349). The amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:14 contains a signal sequence (amino acids 1-37) and a mature toxin (amino acids 38-328). The amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:18 contains a signal sequence (amino acids 1-27) and a mature protein (amino acids 28-342). The amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:20 contains a signal sequence (amino acids 1-45) and a mature toxin (amino acids 46-363). The amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:22 contains a signal sequence (amino acids 1-20) and a mature toxin (amino acids 21-344).

The BLASTN search against the NCBI EST database revealed sequences with 98 to 100% identity to some of the sequences of the present invention. Nucleotides 681 through 1051 from the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:1 are 97% identical to nucleotides 614 through 245 of the zea mays EST from the Schmidt lab having NCBI General Identifier No. 4874508. Nucleotides 107 through 447 from the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:3 are 99% identical to nucleotides 61 through 401 from the Oryza sativa cDNA clone E61543_(—)1 A having NCBI General Identifier No. 5004923. Nucleotides 690 through 1303 from the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:11 are 98% identical to nucleotides 614 through 1 from the Schmidt lab Zea mays endosperm CDNA library sequence having NCBI General Identifier No. 4874508. Nucleotides 672 through 1239 from the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:13 are 100% identical to nucleotides 578 through 1 from the Walbot Lab Zea mays root cDNA library sequence having NCBI General Identifier No. 5871198. Nucleotides 141 through 517 from the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:17 are 99% identical to nucleotides 61 through 464 from the Oryza sativa cDNA clone E61543_(—)1A having NCBI General Identifier No. 5004923. Nucleotides 313 through 907 from the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:19 are 96% identical to nucleotides 9 through 603 of the GENOME SYSTEMS Glycine max cDNA clone having NCBI General Identifier No. 7588989.

FIG. 1 presents an alignment of the mature protein in the amino acid sequences set forth in SEQ ID NOs:2, 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, and 22 and the Brassica napus CCT1, CCT2, and CCT4 sequences (NCBI General Identifier Nos. 1418127, 1418125, 1416514 or 7488484, 7488483, 7488446; SEQ ID NOs:23, 24, and 25). The amino acid sequences from SEQ ID NOs:4, 6, and 10 are not included independently in the figure since they are covered by the amino acid sequences found in SEQ ID NOs:18, 20, and 22, respectively. The amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:4 corresponds to amino acids 3 through 149 of SEQ ID NO:18; the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:6 corresponds to amino acids 111 through 304 of amino acid sequence having SEQ ID NO:20; and the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:10 corresponds to amino acids 244 through 330 of SEQ ID NO:22. In this figure the amino acids corresponding to the catalytic core as described by Kalmar et al. ((1990) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87:6029-6033) are inderlined. This region contains an HXGH motif (written in white and boxed in black) probably involved in binding of CTP by the enzyme (Veitch and Cornell (1996) Biochemistry 35:10743-10750).

The data in Table 5 represents a calculation of the percent identity of the amino acid sequences set forth in SEQ ID NOs:2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, and 22 and the Brassica napus CCT1, CCT2, ard CCT4 sequences NCBI General Identifier Nos. 1418127, 1418125, 1416514 or 7488484, 7488483, 7488446; SEQ ID NOs:23, 24, and 25).

TABLE 5 Percent Identity of Amino Acid Sequences Deduced From the Nucleotide Sequences of cDNA Clones Encoding Polypeptides Homologous to Choline phosphate Cytidylyltransferases Percent Identity to 1418127 or 1418125 or 1416514 or SEQ ID NO. 7488484 7488483 7488446 2 63.1 63.5 61.3 4 47.7 48.3 44.3 6 83.5 83.0 84.5 8 65.4 64.4 63.5 10 60.5 59.3 54.7 12 63.1 63.5 61.3 14 57.0 56.1 55.2 16 81.3 81.3 81.3 18 61.3 61.7 59.8 20 68.9 68.4 69.0 22 62.5 62.6 61.0

Sequence alignments and percent identity calculations were performed using the Megalign program of the LASERGENE bioinformatics computing suite (DNASTAR Inc., Madison. Wis. Multiple alignment of the sequences was performed using the Clustal method of alignment (Higgins and Sharp (1989) CABIOS. 5:151-153) with the default parameters (GAP PENALTY=10, GAP LENGTH PENALTY=10). Default parameters for pairwise alignments using the Clustal method were KTUPLE 1, GAP PENALTY=3, WINDOW=5 and DIAGONALS SAVED=5. The amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:2 is identical to the one set forth in SEQ ID NO:12. Sequence alignments and BLAST scores and probabilities indicate that the nucleic acid fragments comprising the instant cDNA clones encode a substantial portion of two rice, two soybean, and one wheat phosphate cytidylyltransferase isoforms as well as three entire corn, one entire rice, one entire soybean, and one entire wheat choline phosphate cytidylyltransferase isoforms. These sequences represent the first corn, rice, soybean, and wheat sequences encoding choline phosphate cytidylyltransferases known to Applicant.

Example 4 Expression of Chimeric Genes in Monocot Cells

A chimeric gene comprising a cDNA encoding the instant polypeptides in sense orientation with respect to the maize 27 kD zein promoter that is located 5′ to the cDNA fragment, and the 10 kD zein 3′ end that is located 3′ to the cDNA fragment, can be constructed. The cDNA fragment of this gene may be generated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the cDNA clone using appropriate oligonucleotide primers. Cloning sites (NcoI or SmaI) can be incorporated into the oligonucleotides to provide proper orientation of the DNA fragment when inserted into the digested vector pML103 as described below. Amplification is then performed in a standard PCR. The amplified DNA is then digested with restriction enzymes NcoI and SmaI and fractionated on an agarose gel. The appropriate band can be isolated from the gel and combined with a 4.9 kb NcoI-SmaI fragment of the plasmid pML103. Plasmid pML103 has been deposited under the terms of the Budapest Treaty at ATCC (American Type Culture Collection, 10801 University Blvd., Manassas, Va. 20110-2209), and bears accession number ATCC 97366. The DNA segment from pML103 contains a 1.05 kb SalI-NcoI promoter fragment of the maize 27 kD zein gene and a 0.96 kb SmaI-SalI fragment from the 3′ end of the maize 10 kD zein gene in the vector pGem9Zf(+) (Promega). Vector and insert DNA can be ligated at 15° C. overnight, essentially as described (Maniatis). The ligated DNA may then be used to transform E. coli XL1-Blue (Epicurian Coli XL-1 Blue™; Stratagene). Bacterial transformants can be screened by restriction enzyme digestion of plasmid DNA and limited nucleotide sequence analysis using the dideoxy chain termination method (Sequenase™ DNA Sequencing Kit; U.S. Biochemical). The resulting plasmid construct would comprise a chimeric gene encoding, in the 5′ to 3′ direction, the maize 27 kD zein promoter, a cDNA fragment encoding the instant polypeptides, and the 10 kD zein 3′ region.

The chimeric gene described above can then be introduced into corn cells by the following procedure. Immature corn embryos can be dissected from developing caryopses derived from crosses of the inbred corn lines H99 and LH132. The embryos are isolated 10 to 11 days after pollination when they are 1.0 to 1.5 mm long. The embryos are then placed with the axis-side facing down and in contact with agarose-solidified N6 medium (Chu et al. (1975) Sci. Sin. Peking 18:659-668). The embryos are kept in the dark at 27° C. Friable embryogenic callus consisting of undifferentiated masses of cells with somatic proembryoids and embryoids borne on suspensor structures proliferates from the scutellum of these immature embryos. The embryogenic callus isolated from the primary explant can be cultured on N6 medium and sub-cultured on this medium every 2 to 3 weeks.

The plasmid, p35S/Ac (obtained from Dr. Peter Eckes, Hoechst Ag, Frankfurt, Germany) may be used in transformation experiments in order to provide for a selectable marker. This plasmid contains the Pat gene (see European Patent Publication 0 242 236) which encodes phosphinothricin acetyl transferase (PAT). The enzyme PAT confers resistance to herbicidal glutamine synthetase inhibitors such as phosphinothricin. The pat gene in p35S/Ac is under the control of the 35S promoter from Cauliflower Mosaic Virus (Odell et al. (1985) Nature 313:810-812) and the 3′ region of the nopaline synthase gene from the T-DNA of the Ti plasmid of Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

The particle bombardment method (Klein et al. (1987) Nature 327:70-73) may be used to transfer genes to the callus culture cells. According to this method, gold particles (1 μm in diameter) are coated with DNA using the following technique. Ten μg of plasmid DNAs are added to 50 μL of a suspension of gold particles (60 mg per mL). Calcium chloride (50 μL of a 2.5 M solution) and spermidine free base (20 μL of a 1.0 M solution) are added to the particles. The suspension is vortexed during the addition of these solutions. After 10 minutes, the tubes are briefly centrifuged (5 sec at 15,000 μm) and the supernatant removed. The particles are resuspended in 200 μL of absolute ethanol, centrifuged again and the supernatant removed. The ethanol rinse is performed again and the particles resuspended in a final volume of 30 μL of ethanol. An aliquot (5 μL) of the DNA-coated gold particles can be placed in the center of a Kapton™ flying disc (Bio-Rad Labs). The particles are then accelerated into the corn tissue with a Biolistic™ PDS-1000/He (Bio-Rad Instruments, Hercules Calif.), using a helium pressure of 1000 psi, a gap distance of 0.5 cm and a flying distance of 1.0 cm.

For bombardment, the embryogenic tissue is placed on filter paper over agarose-solidified N6 medium. The tissue is arranged as a thin lawn and covered a circular area of about 5 cm in diameter. The petri dish containing the tissue can be placed in the chamber of the PDS-1000/He approximately 8 cm from the stopping screen. The air in the chamber is then evacuated to a vacuum of 28 inches of Hg. The macrocarrier is accelerated with a helium shock wave using a rupture membrane that bursts when the He pressure in the shock tube reaches 1000 psi.

Seven days after bombardment the tissue can be transferred to N6 medium that contains gluphosinate (2 mg per liter) and lacks casein or proline. The tissue continues to grow slowly on this medium. After an additional 2 weeks the tissue can be transferred to fresh N6 medium containing gluphosinate. After 6 weeks, areas of about 1 cm in diameter of actively growing callus can be identified on some of the plates containing the glufosinate-supplemented medium. These calli may continue to grow when sub-cultured on the selective medium.

Plants can be regenerated from the transgenic callus by first transferring clusters of tissue to N6 medium supplemented with 0.2 mg per liter of 2,4-D. After two weeks the tissue can be transferred to regeneration medium (Fromm et al. (1990) Bio/Technology 8:833-839).

Example 5 Expression of Chimeric Genes in Dicot Cells

A seed-specific expression cassette composed of the promoter and transcription terminator from the gene encoding the β subunit of the seed storage protein phaseolin from the bean Phaseolus vulgaris (Doyle et al. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261:9228-9238) can be used for expression of the instant polypeptides in transformed soybean. The phaseolin cassette includes about 500 nucleotides upstream (5′) from the translation initiation codon and about 1650 nucleotides downstream (3′) from the translation stop codon of phaseolin. Between the 5′ and 3′ regions are the unique restriction endonuclease sites Nco I (which includes the ATG translation initiation codon), Sma I, Kpn I and Xba I. The entire cassette is flanked by Hind III sites.

The cDNA fragment of this gene may be generated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the cDNA clone using appropriate oligonucleotide primers. Cloning sites can be incorporated into the oligonucleotides to provide proper orientation of the DNA fragment when inserted into the expression vector. Amplification is then performed as described above, and the isolated fragment is inserted into a pUC18 vector carrying the seed expression cassette.

Soybean embryos may then be transformed with the expression vector comprising sequences encoding the instant polypeptides. To induce somatic embryos, cotyledons, 3-5 mm in length dissected from surface sterilized, immature seeds of the soybean cultivar A2872, can be cultured in the light or dark at 26° C. on an appropriate agar medium for 6-10 weeks. Somatic embryos which produce secondary embryos are then excised and placed into a suitable liquid medium. After repeated selection for clusters of somatic embryos which multiplied as early, globular staged embryos, the suspensions are maintained as described below.

Soybean embryogenic suspension cultures can be maintained in 35 mL liquid media on a rotary shaker, 150 rpm, at 26° C. with florescent lights on a 16:8 hour day/night schedule. Cultures are subcultured every two weeks by inoculating approximately 35 mg of tissue into 35 mL of liquid medium.

Soybean embryogenic suspension cultures may then be transformed by the method of particle gun bombardment (Klein et al. (1987) Nature (London) 327:70-73, U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,050). A DuPont Biolistic™ PDS1000/HE instrument (helium retrofit) can be used for these transformations.

A selectable marker gene which can be used to facilitate soybean transformation is a chimeric gene composed of the 35S promoter from Cauliflower Mosaic Virus (Odell et al. (1985) Nature 313:810-812), the hygromycin phosphotransferase gene from plasmid pJR225 (from E. coli; Gritz et al.(1983) Gene 25:179-188) and the 3′ region of the nopaline synthase gene from the T-DNA of the Ti plasmid of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The seed expression cassette comprising the phaseolin 5′ region, the fragment encoding the instant polypeptides and the phaseolin 3′ region can be isolated as a restriction fragment. This fragment can then be inserted into a unique restriction site of the vector carrying the marker gene.

To 50 μL of a 60 mg/mL 1 μm gold particle suspension is added (in order): 5 μL DNA (1 μg/μL), 20 μL spermidine (0.1 M), and 50 μL CaCl₂ (2.5 M). The particle preparation is then agitated for three minutes, spun in a microfuge for 10 seconds and the supernatant removed. The DNA-coated particles are then washed once in 400 μL 70% ethanol and resuspended in 40 μL of anhydrous ethanol. The DNA/particle suspension can be sonicated three times for one second each. Five μL of the DNA-coated gold particles are then loaded on each macro carrier disk.

Approximately 300-400 mg of a two-week-old suspension culture is placed in an empty 60×15 mm petri dish and the residual liquid removed from the tissue with a pipette. For each transformation experiment, approximately 5-10 plates of tissue are normally bombarded. Membrane rupture pressure is set at 1100 psi and the chamber is evacuated to a vacuum of 28 inches mercury. The tissue is placed approximately 3.5 inches away from the retaining screen and bombarded three times. Following bombardment, the tissue can be divided in half and placed back into liquid and cultured as described above.

Five to seven days post bombardment, the liquid media may be exchanged with fresh media, and eleven to twelve days post bombardment with fresh media containing 50 mg/mL hygromycin. This selective media can be refreshed weekly. Seven to eight weeks post bombardment, green, transformed tissue may be observed growing from untransformed, necrotic embryogenic clusters. Isolated green tissue is removed and inoculated into individual flasks to generate new, clonally propagated, transformed embryogenic suspension cultures. Each new line may be treated as an independent transformation event. These suspensions can then be subcultured and maintained as clusters of immature embryos or regenerated into whole plants by maturation and germination of individual somatic embryos.

Example 6 Expression of Chimeric Genes in Microbial Cells

The cDNAs encoding the instant polypeptides can be inserted into the T7 E. coli expression vector pBT430. This vector is a derivative of pET-3a (Rosenberg et al. (1987) Gene 56:125-135) which employs the bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase/T7 promoter system. Plasmid pBT430 was constructed by first destroying the EcoR I and Hind III sites in pET-3a at their original positions. An oligonucleotide adaptor containing EcoR I and Hind III sites was inserted at the BamH I site of pET-3a. This created pET-3aM with additional unique cloning sites for insertion of genes into the expression vector. Then, the Nde I site at the position of translation initiation was converted to an Nco I site using oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis. The DNA sequence of pET-3aM in this region, 5′-CATATGG, was converted to 5′-CCCATGG in pBT430.

Plasmid DNA containing a cDNA may be appropriately digested to release a nucleic acid fragment encoding the protein. This fragment may then be purified on a 1% low melting agarose gel. Buffer and agarose contain 10 μg/ml ethidium bromide for visualization of the DNA fragment. The fragment can then be purified from the agarose gel by digestion with GELase™ (Epicentre Technologies, Madison, Wis.) according to the manufacturer's instructions, ethanol precipitated, dried and resuspended in 20 μL of water. Appropriate oligonucleotide adapters may be ligated to the fragment using T4 DNA ligase (New England Biolabs (NEB), Beverly, Mass.). The fragment containing the ligated adapters can be purified from the excess adapters using low melting agarose as described above. The vector pBT430 is digested, dephosphorylated with alkaline phosphatase (NEB) and deproteinized with phenol/chloroformn as described above. The prepared vector pBT430 and fragment can then be ligated at 16° C. for 15 hours followed by transformation into DH5 electrocompetent cells (GIBCO BRL). Transformants can be selected on agar plates containing LB media and 100 μg/mL ampicillin. Transformants containing the gene encoding the instant polypeptides are then screened for the correct orientation with respect to the T7 promoter by restriction enzyme analysis.

For high level expression, a plasmid clone with the cDNA insert in the correct orientation relative to the T7 promoter can be transformed into E. coli strain BL21(DE3) (Studier et al. (1986) J. Mol. Biol. 189:113-130). Cultures are grown in LB medium containing ampicillin (100 mg/L) at 25° C. At an optical density at 600 nm of approximately 1, IPTG (isopropylthio-β-galactoside, the inducer) can be added to a final concentration of 0.4 mM and incubation can be continued for 3 h at 25°. Cells are then harvested by centrifugation and re-suspended in 50 μL of 50 mM Tris-HCl at pH 8.0 containing 0.1 mM DTT and 0.2 mM phenyl methylsulfonyl fluoride. A small amount of 1 mm glass beads can be added and the mixture sonicated 3 times for about 5 seconds each time with a microprobe sonicator. The mixture is centrifuged and the protein concentration of the supernatant determined. One μg of protein from the soluble fraction of the culture can be separated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Gels can be observed for protein bands migrating at the expected molecular weight.

Example 7 Evaluating Compounds for Their Ability to Inhibit the Activity of Choline Phosphate Cytidylyltransferase

The polypeptides described herein may be produced using any number of methods known to those skilled in the art. Such methods include, but are not limited to, expression in bacteria as described in Example 6, or expression in eukaryotic cell culture, in planta, and using viral expression systems in suitably infected organisms or cell lines. The instant polypeptides may be expressed either as mature forms of the proteins as observed in vivo or as fusion proteins by covalent attachment to a variety of enzymes, proteins or affinity tags. Common fusion protein partners include glutathione S-transferase (“GST”), thioredoxin (“Trx”), maltose binding protein, and C- and/or N-terminal hexahistidine polypeptide (“(His)₆”). The fusion proteins may be engineered with a protease recognition site at the fusion point so that fusion partners can be separated by protease digestion to yield intact mature enzyme. Examples of such proteases include thrombin, enterokinase and factor Xa. However, any protease can be used which specifically cleaves the peptide connecting the fusion protein and the enzyme.

Purification of the instant polypeptides, if desired, may utilize any number of separation technologies familiar to those skilled in the art of protein purification. Examples of such methods include, but are not limited to, homogenization, filtration, centrifugation, heat denaturation, ammonium sulfate precipitation, desalting, pH precipitation, ion exchange chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography and affinity chromatography, wherein the affinity ligand represents a substrate, substrate analog or inhibitor. When the instant polypeptides are expressed as fusion proteins, the purification protocol may include the use of an affinity resin which is specific for the fusion protein tag attached to the expressed enzyme or an affinity resin containing ligands which are specific for the enzyme. For example, the instant polypeptides may be expressed as a fusion protein coupled to the C-terminus of thioredoxin. In addition, a (His)₆ peptide may be engineered into the N-terninus of the fused thioredoxin moiety to afford additional opportunities for affinity purification. Other suitable affinity resins could be synthesized by linking the appropriate ligands to any suitable resin such as Sepharose-4B. In an alternate embodiment, a thioredoxin fusion protein may be eluted using dithiothreitol; however, elution may be accomplished using other reagents which interact to displace the thioredoxin from the resin. These reagents include P-mercaptoethanol or other reduced thiol. The eluted fusion protein may be subjected to further purification by traditional means as stated above, if desired. Proteolytic cleavage of the thioredoxin fusion protein and the enzyme may be accomplished after the fusion protein is purified or while the protein is still bound to the ThioBond™ affinity resin or other resin.

Crude, partially purified or purified enzyme, either alone or as a fusion protein, may be utilized in assays for the evaluation of compounds for their ability to inhibit enzymatic activation of the instant polypeptides disclosed herein. Assays may be conducted under well known experimental conditions which permit optimal enzymatic activity. Assays for choline phosphate cytidylyltransferase are presented by Weinhold and Feldman (1992) Methods Enzymol. 209:248-258.

SEQUENCE LISTING <160> NUMBER OF SEQ ID NOS: 25 <210> SEQ ID NO 1 <211> LENGTH: 1383 <212> TYPE: DNA <213> ORGANISM: Zea mays <400> SEQUENCE: 1 ccctcaagtc ctacgcgctc cgttcccctt tccctttccg aagcttctcg accccccatc 60 ccctccctga catggccgac aacgcgaagg ccgcggcggc gcatgcgagg ccggagtcgt 120 cgcaggagga ggaggaggac tggaaggagg ccgaggggga cgtcgccgaa gtcgaccgcg 180 ccgccaccaa tggcgccggc gaggggggcg tgcccacaga caggccgatc cgggtctacg 240 ccgacggcat ctacgacctc ttccacttcg gccatgccaa gtcgctggag caggccaaga 300 agtcgtttcc aaacacatat cttcttgttg gatgctgcaa tgatgagttg acacataaat 360 tcaaaggaag aactgttatg actgaggatg agcgatatga gtcacttcgt cattgcaagt 420 gggttgatga agtcattcca gatgctccat gggtggtgac agaagagttc ttggataagc 480 ataacattga ttttgttgct catgattctc tgccgtatgc tgatgctagt ggagctggta 540 acgatgttta tgaacatgta aaaaagcttg gtaagtttaa ggagactcag cgcactgatg 600 ggatatcaac atcggacatt ataatgcgga ttgttaaaga ttataatgag tatgttatgc 660 ggaatctggc caggggctac actagaaagg atcttggtgt tagttatgtc aaggaaaaac 720 gactgcgagt gaacatggga cttaaaaacc tgcgtgacag agtgaaacag caccaagaaa 780 aagtagggga gaagtggagc acggttgcaa aactccagga agagtgggtg gaaaatgcag 840 accgctgggt ggctggtttc ttagagaagt ttgaggaagg gtgccactca atggggacag 900 ccatcaagga gaggatccag gagaggctca tcaaggcaca atccagcgac tttggcagcc 960 tcctacagta cgacagctac gattctgatg aagccaaaga aaacgacgag gacgaagacg 1020 aagatgaact ctttgaagac gtcaaggaat agcacctccg tacatataca atggttttgt 1080 agctgcaaat tgtgttgtga gtcagttgcc tctctctggt tggtgatctt tatatatggt 1140 ctcaaaggta ggtcaggttg caatgtttgt agctgctctt ggtgtttgtt caggcaacgc 1200 atggttgtaa aagctgtgga aagactcttg tgcagtcaag gatacagatt ccgatggtta 1260 cctttgggtt agaacatata cggctgtaaa attggaagtc gaggtggtta aaactctaaa 1320 aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa 1380 aaa 1383 <210> SEQ ID NO 2 <211> LENGTH: 349 <212> TYPE: PRT <213> ORGANISM: Zea mays <400> SEQUENCE: 2 Leu Lys Ser Tyr Ala Leu Arg Ser Pro Phe Pro Phe Arg Ser Phe Ser 1 5 10 15 Thr Pro His Pro Leu Pro Asp Met ala Asp Asn Ala Lys Ala Ala Ala 20 25 30 Ala His Ala Arg Pro Glu Ser Ser Gln Glu Glu Glu Glu Asp Trp Lys 35 40 45 Glu Ala Glu Gly Asp Val Ala Glu Val Asp Arg Ala Ala Thr Asn Gly 50 55 60 Ala Gly Glu Gly Gly Val Pro Thr Asp Arg Pro Ile Arg Val Tyr Ala 65 70 75 80 Asp Gly Ile Tyr Asp Leu Phe His Phe Gly His Ala Lys Ser Leu Glu 85 90 95 Gln Ala Lys Lys Ser Phe Pro Asn Thr Tyr Leu Leu Val Gly Cys Cys 100 105 110 Asn Asp Glu Leu Thr His Lys Phe Lys Gly Arg Thr Val Met Thr Glu 115 120 125 Asp Glu Arg Tyr Glu Ser Leu Arg His Cys Lys Trp Val Asp Glu Val 130 135 140 Ile Pro Asp Ala Pro Trp Val Val Thr Glu Glu Phe Leu Asp Lys His 145 150 155 160 Asn Ile Asp Phe Val Ala His Asp Ser Leu Pro Tyr Ala Asp Ala Ser 165 170 175 Gly Ala Gly Asn Asp Val Tyr Glu His Val Lys Lys Leu Gly Lys Phe 180 185 190 Lys Glu Thr Gln Arg Thr Asp Gly Ile Ser Thr Ser Asp Ile Ile Met 195 200 205 Arg Ile Val Lys Asp Tyr Asn Glu Tyr Val Met Arg Asn Leu Ala Arg 210 215 220 Gly Tyr Thr Arg Lys Asp Leu Gly Val Ser Tyr Val Lys Glu Lys Arg 225 230 235 240 Leu Arg Val Asn Met Gly Leu Lys Asn Leu Arg Asp Arg Val Lys Gln 245 250 255 His Gln Glu Lys Val Gly Glu Lys Trp Ser Thr Val Ala Lys Leu Gln 260 265 270 Glu Glu Trp Val Glu Asn Ala Asp Arg Trp Val Ala Gly Phe Leu Glu 275 280 285 Lys Phe Glu Glu Gly Cys His Ser Met Gly Thr Ala Ile Lys Glu Arg 290 295 300 Ile Gln Glu Arg Leu Ile Lys Ala Gln Ser Ser Asp Phe Gly Ser Leu 305 310 315 320 Leu Gln Tyr Asp Ser Tyr Asp Ser Asp Glu Ala Lys Glu Asn Asp Glu 325 330 335 Asp Glu Asp Glu Asp Glu Leu Phe Glu Asp Val Lys Glu 340 345 <210> SEQ ID NO 3 <211> LENGTH: 572 <212> TYPE: DNA <213> ORGANISM: Oryza sativa <220> FEATURE: <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (52) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (464) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (466) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (480) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (525) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (548) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (550) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (572) <400> SEQUENCE: 3 gttctaacct cgccttctcc cttctctctc tctctctctc tctctctctc tntctctctc 60 ccgaaccttc tcgccatggc cgaccacgct gcggcggagg cggcgccgca gtcgtcgcag 120 gaggaggagg aggactggaa ggaggccgag gggggagacg gggacgtcga ggtggcggac 180 aggggcggcg gaggcggcgc cgccaatggg ggaatcccgg aggggaggcc gatccgggtc 240 tacgcggacg gaatctacga tctcttccac ttcggccacg ccaagtcgct cgagcaggcc 300 aagaggctgt ttcctaacac atatctcctt gtcggatgct gcaatgatga gttgacacat 360 aagtacaaag ggagaactgt tatgacagag gatgagcgat atgaatcact tcgtcactgc 420 aagtgggtgg atgaagtcat tcctgatctc catgggtggt aacngnagaa tcttgaatan 480 acataacatt gatttgttca catgatctct gccgtaagct gatcnagtgg agctgggtaa 540 cgatgtcnan aatttgtcaa aaaacttggt an 572 <210> SEQ ID NO 4 <211> LENGTH: 149 <212> TYPE: PRT <213> ORGANISM: Oryza sativa <220> FEATURE: <221> NAME/KEY: UNSURE <222> LOCATION: (18) <400> SEQUENCE: 4 Val Leu Thr Ser Pro Ser Pro Phe Ser Leu Ser Leu Ser Leu Ser Leu 1 5 10 15 Ser Xaa Ser Leu Pro Asn Leu Leu Ala Met Ala Asp His Ala Ala Ala 20 25 30 Glu Ala Ala Pro Gln Ser Ser Gln Glu Glu Glu Glu Asp Trp Lys Glu 35 40 45 Ala Glu Gly Gly Asp Gly Asp Val Glu Val Ala Asp Arg Gly Gly Gly 50 55 60 Gly Gly Ala Ala Asn Gly Gly Ile Pro Glu Gly Arg Pro Ile Arg Val 65 70 75 80 Tyr Ala Asp Gly Ile Tyr Asp Leu Phe His Phe Gly His Ala Lys Ser 85 90 95 Leu Glu Gln Ala Lys Arg Leu Phe Pro Asn Thr Tyr Leu Leu Val Gly 100 105 110 Cys Cys Asn Asp Glu Leu Thr His Lys Tyr Lys Gly Arg Thr Val Met 115 120 125 Thr Glu Asp Glu Arg Tyr Glu Ser Leu Arg His Cys Lys Trp Val Asp 130 135 140 Glu Val Ile Pro Asp 145 <210> SEQ ID NO 5 <211> LENGTH: 584 <212> TYPE: DNA <213> ORGANISM: Glycine max <400> SEQUENCE: 5 caaaggcaaa actgttatga cagaggccga acgatacgaa tccctgcgcc actgcaaatg 60 ggtggatgaa gttattcctg atgccccttg ggttatcaat caagagtttc ttgacaagca 120 ctacattgac tatgtggctc atgactctct tccttatgct gatgccagtg gtgctgccaa 180 tgatgtttat gaatttgtta aatctgttgg gaggtttaag gaaacaaaac ggaccgaagg 240 aatatccacg tccgatgtta taatgaggat tgtcaaagat tataaccaat atgtgctgcg 300 gaacttggat cgtgggtact caagaaacga gcttggcgtg agctatgtga aggaaaagcg 360 actgagggtg aatagaaggt tgaaaacatt acaagagaaa gtgaaggaac atcaagaaaa 420 agttggcgaa aagatccaaa ttgttgcaaa gactgctggc atgcatcgga atgagtgggt 480 ggaaaatgct gatcgttggg tagctggttt tctggaaatg tttgaagaag gttgccacaa 540 ggatgggaca gcaattaggg atcgaattca agagaggtta agag 584 <210> SEQ ID NO 6 <211> LENGTH: 194 <212> TYPE: PRT <213> ORGANISM: Glycine max <400> SEQUENCE: 6 Lys Gly Lys Thr Val Met Thr Glu Ala Glu Arg Tyr Glu Ser Leu Arg 1 5 10 15 His Cys Lys Trp Val Asp Glu Val Ile Pro Asp Ala Pro Trp Val Ile 20 25 30 Asn Gln Glu Phe Leu Asp Lys His Tyr Ile Asp Tyr Val Ala His Asp 35 40 45 Ser Leu Pro Tyr Ala Asp Ala Ser Gly Ala Ala Asn Asp Val Tyr Glu 50 55 60 Phe Val Lys Ser Val Gly Arg Phe Lys Glu Thr Lys Arg Thr Glu Gly 65 70 75 80 Ile Ser Thr Ser Asp Val Ile Met Arg Ile Val Lys Asp Tyr Asn Gln 85 90 95 Tyr Val Leu Arg Asn Leu Asp Arg Gly Tyr Ser Arg Asn Glu Leu Gly 100 105 110 Val Ser Tyr Val Lys Glu Lys Arg Leu Arg Val Asn Arg Arg Leu Lys 115 120 125 Thr Leu Gln Glu Lys Val Lys Glu His Gln Glu Lys Val Gly Glu Lys 130 135 140 Ile Gln Ile Val Ala Lys Thr Ala Gly Met His Arg Asn Glu Trp Val 145 150 155 160 Glu Asn Ala Asp Arg Trp Val Ala Gly Phe Leu Glu Met Phe Glu Glu 165 170 175 Gly Cys His Lys Asp Gly Thr Ala Ile Arg Asp Arg Ile Gln Glu Arg 180 185 190 Leu Arg <210> SEQ ID NO 7 <211> LENGTH: 526 <212> TYPE: DNA <213> ORGANISM: Glycine max <220> FEATURE: <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (210)..(211) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (214) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (238) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (334) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (413) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (439) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (442) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (448) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (451) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (462) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (467) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (500) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (505)..(506) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (512) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (522) <400> SEQUENCE: 7 tatacaagaa aggagctagg tgttagctat gtcaaggaga agaggttgag aatgaacatg 60 ggacttaaaa aattgcagga gagagtgaag aaacaacaag aggaagtagg aaagaagatt 120 caaacggtgg gaaaaatcgc tggaatgcac cctaatgaat gggttgaaaa cgctgatcgg 180 ttggttgctg gatttcttga gatgtttgan naangttgcc acaaaatggg aacagcantc 240 agggacagaa tacaggaacg attaagggca cagcagctga aatctcttct ttatgatgag 300 tgggatgatg ataatgaatt ctatgatgat gatnaatact acacagccta aagtgacaaa 360 taaactcgtg tgtctagatt tcgaacattc cataaggtaa gctatccttt ccngtaacga 420 caaatggttt aattcgaanc antactanaa nggacaaatg gnttaantcc atacatatgc 480 aatatgggtt gtaaattaan ttggnnattg tncattccta gnttgt 526 <210> SEQ ID NO 8 <211> LENGTH: 104 <212> TYPE: PRT <213> ORGANISM: Glycine max <220> FEATURE: <221> NAME/KEY: UNSURE <222> LOCATION: (70)..(71)..(72) <221> NAME/KEY: UNSURE <222> LOCATION: (80) <400> SEQUENCE: 8 Tyr Thr Arg Lys Glu Leu Gly Val Ser Tyr Val Lys Glu Lys Arg Leu 1 5 10 15 Arg Met Asn Met Gly Leu Lys Lys Leu Gln Glu Arg Val Lys Lys Gln 20 25 30 Gln Glu Glu Val Gly Lys Lys Ile Gln Thr Val Gly Lys Ile Ala Gly 35 40 45 Met His Pro Asn Glu Trp Val Glu Asn Ala Asp Arg Leu Val Ala Gly 50 55 60 Phe Leu Glu Met Phe Xaa Xaa Xaa Cys His Lys Met Gly Thr Ala Xaa 65 70 75 80 Arg Asp Arg Ile Gln Glu Arg Leu Arg Ala Gln Gln Leu Lys Ser Leu 85 90 95 Leu Tyr Asp Glu Trp Asp Asp Asp 100 <210> SEQ ID NO 9 <211> LENGTH: 523 <212> TYPE: DNA <213> ORGANISM: Triticum aestivum <220> FEATURE: <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (338) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (386) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (398) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (401) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (447) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (451) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (487) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (490) <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (496) <400> SEQUENCE: 9 aaaaccctgc gtgacaaagt gaagcagcac caagaaaaag taggggagaa gtggagtaca 60 gtggcaaaac tccaggaaga gtgggttgaa aacgcagatc gctgggttgt tggttttcta 120 gagaaattcg aggaaggttg ccattcaatg ggaactgcca tcaaggaaag aatccaggaa 180 aggctgaagg aggcgcagtc tagggacttc agccttctac aatacgacag tgacgacttt 240 gacgactttg aagaagaaga cgatgaagtt gccaaagatg ccaaatacgt gaaagaatag 300 cgccactgta aaattttacg tcaaagtata atacgggnat gcaatgcatg ttacgatctt 360 catcaaccgc atccttcacc atgtancgtc cctttgantg ngacttcact gtcaaggtaa 420 atctgcgtcc gtgtttgtac ctgtacntga nggtttctag gcagtagcgt accccttgta 480 atactcnacn gtgggnatac actgttattt gggggtacca ttt 523 <210> SEQ ID NO 10 <211> LENGTH: 86 <212> TYPE: PRT <213> ORGANISM: Triticum aestivum <400> SEQUENCE: 10 Lys Thr Leu Arg Asp Lys Val Lys Gln His Gln Glu Lys Val Gly Glu 1 5 10 15 Lys Trp Ser Thr Val Ala Lys Leu Gln Glu Glu Trp Val Glu Asn Ala 20 25 30 Asp Arg Trp Val Val Gly Phe Leu Glu Lys Phe Glu Glu Gly Cys His 35 40 45 Ser Met Gly Thr Ala Ile Lys Glu Arg Ile Gln Glu Arg Leu Lys Glu 50 55 60 Ala Gln Ser Arg Asp Phe Ser Leu Leu Gln Tyr Asp Ser Asp Asp Phe 65 70 75 80 Asp Asp Phe Glu Glu Glu 85 <210> SEQ ID NO 11 <211> LENGTH: 1374 <212> TYPE: DNA <213> ORGANISM: Zea mays <400> SEQUENCE: 11 gcacgagccc tcaagtccta cgcgctccgt tcccctttcc ctttccgaag cttctcgacc 60 ccccatcccc tccctgacat ggccgacaac gcgaaggccg cggcggcgca tgcgaggccg 120 gagtcgtcgc aggaggagga ggaggactgg aaggaggccg agggggacgt cgccgaagtc 180 gaccgcgccg ccaccaatgg cgccggcgag gggggcgtgc ccacagacag gccgatccgg 240 gtctacgccg acggcatcta cgacctcttc cacttcggcc atgccaagtc gctggagcag 300 gccaagaagt cgtttccaaa cacatatctt cttgttggat gctgcaatga tgagttgaca 360 cataaattca aaggaagaac tgttatgact gaggatgagc gatatgagtc acttcgtcat 420 tgcaagtggg ttgatgaagt cattccagat gctccatggg tggtgacaga agagttcttg 480 gataagcata acattgattt tgttgctcat gattctctgc cgtatgctga tgctagtgga 540 gctggtaacg atgtttatga acatgtaaaa aagcttggta agtttaagga gactcagcgc 600 actgatggga tatcaacatc ggacattata atgcggattg ttaaagatta taatgagtat 660 gttatgcgga atctggccag gggctacact agaaaggatc ttggtgttag ttatgtcaag 720 gaaaaacgac tgcgagtgaa catgggactt aaaaacctgc gtgacagagt gaaacagcac 780 caagaaaaag taggggagaa gtggagcacg gttgcaaaac tccaggaaga gtgggtggaa 840 aatgcagacc gctgggtggc tggtttctta gagaagtttg aggaagggtg ccactcaatg 900 gggacagcca tcaaggagag gatccaggag aggctcatca aggcacaatc cagcgacttt 960 ggcagcctcc tacagtacga cagctacgat tctgatgaag ccaaagaaaa cgacgaggac 1020 gaagacgaag atgaactctt tgaagacgtc aaggaatagc acctccgtac atatacaatg 1080 gttttgtagc tgcaaattgt gttgtgagtc agttgcctct ctctggttgg tgatctttat 1140 atatggtctc aaaggtaggt caggttgcaa tgtttgtagc tgctcttggt gtttgttcag 1200 gcaacgcatg gttgtaaaag ctgtggaaag actcttgtgc agtcaaggat acagattccg 1260 atggttacct ttgggttaga acatatacgg ctgtaaaatt ggaagtcgag gtggttaaaa 1320 ctctgatatc ttgtctgttt tctttcaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaa 1374 <210> SEQ ID NO 12 <211> LENGTH: 349 <212> TYPE: PRT <213> ORGANISM: Zea mays <400> SEQUENCE: 12 Leu Lys Ser Tyr Ala Leu Arg Ser Pro Phe Pro Phe Arg Ser Phe Ser 1 5 10 15 Thr Pro His Pro Leu Pro Asp Met Ala Asp Asn Ala Lys Ala Ala Ala 20 25 30 Ala His Ala Arg Pro Glu Ser Ser Gln Glu Glu Glu Glu Asp Trp Lys 35 40 45 Glu Ala Glu Gly Asp Val Ala Glu Val Asp Arg Ala Ala Thr Asn Gly 50 55 60 Ala Gly Glu Gly Gly Val Pro Thr Asp Arg Pro Ile Arg Val Tyr Ala 65 70 75 80 Asp Gly Ile Tyr Asp Leu Phe His Phe Gly His Ala Lys Ser Leu Glu 85 90 95 Gln Ala Lys Lys Ser Phe Pro Asn Thr Tyr Leu Leu Val Gly Cys Cys 100 105 110 Asn Asp Glu Leu Thr His Lys Phe Lys Gly Arg Thr Val Met Thr Glu 115 120 125 Asp Glu Arg Tyr Glu Ser Leu Arg His Cys Lys Trp Val Asp Glu Val 130 135 140 Ile Pro Asp Ala Pro Trp Val Val Thr Glu Glu Phe Leu Asp Lys His 145 150 155 160 Asn Ile Asp Phe Val Ala His Asp Ser Leu Pro Tyr Ala Asp Ala Ser 165 170 175 Gly Ala Gly Asn Asp Val Tyr Glu His Val Lys Lys Leu Gly Lys Phe 180 185 190 Lys Glu Thr Gln Arg Thr Asp Gly Ile Ser Thr Ser Asp Ile Ile Met 195 200 205 Arg Ile Val Lys Asp Tyr Asn Glu Tyr Val Met Arg Asn Leu Ala Arg 210 215 220 Gly Tyr Thr Arg Lys Asp Leu Gly Val Ser Tyr Val Lys Glu Lys Arg 225 230 235 240 Leu Arg Val Asn Met Gly Leu Lys Asn Leu Arg Asp Arg Val Lys Gln 245 250 255 His Gln Glu Lys Val Gly Glu Lys Trp Ser Thr Val Ala Lys Leu Gln 260 265 270 Glu Glu Trp Val Glu Asn Ala Asp Arg Trp Val Ala Gly Phe Leu Glu 275 280 285 Lys Phe Glu Glu Gly Cys His Ser Met Gly Thr Ala Ile Lys Glu Arg 290 295 300 Ile Gln Glu Arg Leu Ile Lys Ala Gln Ser Ser Asp Phe Gly Ser Leu 305 310 315 320 Leu Gln Tyr Asp Ser Tyr Asp Ser Asp Glu Ala Lys Glu Asn Asp Glu 325 330 335 Asp Glu Asp Glu Asp Glu Leu Phe Glu Asp Val Lys Glu 340 345 <210> SEQ ID NO 13 <211> LENGTH: 1294 <212> TYPE: DNA <213> ORGANISM: Zea mays <400> SEQUENCE: 13 tgcacgcggc cttgccctcc caggaaggga ggccgaactg agcagttcga ccaggcagcc 60 atccacctcc aacccccctt cgcctgcgca aatcgttacc atcccagcga gaaagatggc 120 gcgcgtctcc aatgccaaga agcggcaggg cgccaagccc gcctccgcgc tcagcagcac 180 cgacaccagc accgccgcaa agaggaaggc cgaggacgac cgccccgtgc gcgtctacgc 240 cgacggcatc ttcgatctct tccacttcgg ccacgcccgc gccctcgagc aggccaagat 300 gctgttcccc aacacctatc ttctcgtcgg atgctgcaac gacgagctaa cctaccgcta 360 caagggcaag accgtcatga cccaggaaga gcgatacgaa tccctgcggc actgcaagtg 420 ggttgatgag gtcattcctg atgcaccgtg ggttctcaca caggagttta ttgataagca 480 tcagattgac tatgttgctc atgatgcgct gccttatgct gatactagcg gaacagcaaa 540 tgatgtctat gaatttggta aaaagattgg aaaattcaag gaaacaaaaa ggacagacgg 600 ggtttctact tcagatctca taatgaggat cttgaaggac tataaccagt atgtcatgag 660 gaatttagca cggggctact cgaggaaaga tcttggtgtg agctatgtca aggagaaaca 720 attgcaagtt aatatgaaga tcaataaact gcgggagact gtgaaggcac atcaggaaaa 780 gttgcaaaca gtggcaaaga ctgctggttt gaatcatgaa gaatggcttg ctaatgcgga 840 tcgctgggtt gctggtttcc tagagaagtt tgagcaacac tgccacaata tggaaactgc 900 gatcaaggat cggatacagg agaggctagg gaaacagttg agcaaaggaa taatcgctgg 960 tcttgtgcag gaaccggtga cagcctaaaa caggtgatgc tgtcaatgaa acgcactgat 1020 gcttttcaga tcatcctccc gatgtggttc tggtgcgagg cttgtaaggg tgcaacgcgg 1080 ttgctgagac gttttaattt tgtggtgcat gtgaactctt cccgtataca aatgtctata 1140 ggagaggcgt ttggtgtttt gggcatcgtc gtgggcgtgt ttctttgtat ctaacgggtt 1200 agattaacct tttttttgta tcgagattga tgttctttcg tggttataat aataataaat 1260 aataataata ttgtcaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaa 1294 <210> SEQ ID NO 14 <211> LENGTH: 328 <212> TYPE: PRT <213> ORGANISM: Zea mays <400> SEQUENCE: 14 Ala Arg Gly Leu Ala Leu Pro Gly Arg Glu Ala Glu Leu Ser Ser Ser 1 5 10 15 Thr Arg Gln Pro Ser Thr Ser Asn Pro Pro Ser Pro Ala Gln Ile Val 20 25 30 Thr Ile Pro Ala Arg Lys Met Ala Arg Val Ser Asn Ala Lys Lys Arg 35 40 45 Gln Gly Ala Lys Pro Ala Ser Ala Leu Ser Ser Thr Asp Thr Ser Thr 50 55 60 Ala Ala Lys Arg Lys Ala Glu Asp Asp Arg Pro Val Arg Val Tyr Ala 65 70 75 80 Asp Gly Ile Phe Asp Leu Phe His Phe Gly His Ala Arg Ala Leu Glu 85 90 95 Gln Ala Lys Met Leu Phe Pro Asn Thr Tyr Leu Leu Val Gly Cys Cys 100 105 110 Asn Asp Glu Leu Thr Tyr Arg Tyr Lys Gly Lys Thr Val Met Thr Gln 115 120 125 Glu Glu Arg Tyr Glu Ser Leu Arg His Cys Lys Trp Val Asp Glu Val 130 135 140 Ile Pro Asp Ala Pro Trp Val Leu Thr Gln Glu Phe Ile Asp Lys His 145 150 155 160 Gln Ile Asp Tyr Val Ala His Asp Ala Leu Pro Tyr Ala Asp Thr Ser 165 170 175 Gly Thr Ala Asn Asp Val Tyr Glu Phe Gly Lys Lys Ile Gly Lys Phe 180 185 190 Lys Glu Thr Lys Arg Thr Asp Gly Val Ser Thr Ser Asp Leu Ile Met 195 200 205 Arg Ile Leu Lys Asp Tyr Asn Gln Tyr Val Met Arg Asn Leu Ala Arg 210 215 220 Gly Tyr Ser Arg Lys Asp Leu Gly Val Ser Tyr Val Lys Glu Lys Gln 225 230 235 240 Leu Gln Val Asn Met Lys Ile Asn Lys Leu Arg Glu Thr Val Lys Ala 245 250 255 His Gln Glu Lys Leu Gln Thr Val Ala Lys Thr Ala Gly Leu Asn His 260 265 270 Glu Glu Trp Leu Ala Asn Ala Asp Arg Trp Val Ala Gly Phe Leu Glu 275 280 285 Lys Phe Glu Gln His Cys His Asn Met Glu Thr Ala Ile Lys Asp Arg 290 295 300 Ile Gln Glu Arg Leu Gly Lys Gln Leu Ser Lys Gly Ile Ile Ala Gly 305 310 315 320 Leu Val Gln Glu Pro Val Thr Ala 325 <210> SEQ ID NO 15 <211> LENGTH: 452 <212> TYPE: DNA <213> ORGANISM: Oryza sativa <220> FEATURE: <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (424) <400> SEQUENCE: 15 ggcatcttcg atctcttcca cttcggccat gcccgcgccc tcgagcaggc caagttgctg 60 ttccccaaca cgtacctgct agtgggctgc tgcaacgacg agctcaccaa ccgctacaag 120 ggcaagaccg tcatgaccca ggatgagcga tacgagtccc ttcgccactg caaatgggtt 180 gatgaggtca ttcctgatgc tccatgggtc ctcacgcaag agttcattga caaacatcag 240 attgactatg ttgctcatga tgcactgcct tatgccgata ctagtggagc tgctaatgat 300 gtctatgaat ttgttaaaaa gattggcaaa ttcaaggaaa cgaaacggac agacggtgta 360 tccacatcag acctcataat gaggatattg aaggactaca atcagtatgt catgaggaat 420 ttancacgtg ggtacacaag gaaagattta tg 452 <210> SEQ ID NO 16 <211> LENGTH: 150 <212> TYPE: PRT <213> ORGANISM: Oryza sativa <220> FEATURE: <221> NAME/KEY: UNSURE <222> LOCATION: (142) <400> SEQUENCE: 16 Gly Ile Phe Asp Leu Phe His Phe Gly His Ala Arg Ala Leu Glu Gln 1 5 10 15 Ala Lys Leu Leu Phe Pro Asn Thr Tyr Leu Leu Val Gly Cys Cys Asn 20 25 30 Asp Glu Leu Thr Asn Arg Tyr Lys Gly Lys Thr Val Met Thr Gln Asp 35 40 45 Glu Arg Tyr Glu Ser Leu Arg His Cys Lys Trp Val Asp Glu Val Ile 50 55 60 Pro Asp Ala Pro Trp Val Leu Thr Gln Glu Phe Ile Asp Lys His Gln 65 70 75 80 Ile Asp Tyr Val Ala His Asp Ala Leu Pro Tyr Ala Asp Thr Ser Gly 85 90 95 Ala Ala Asn Asp Val Tyr Glu Phe Val Lys Lys Ile Gly Lys Phe Lys 100 105 110 Glu Thr Lys Arg Thr Asp Gly Val Ser Thr Ser Asp Leu Ile Met Arg 115 120 125 Ile Leu Lys Asp Tyr Asn Gln Tyr Val Met Arg Asn Leu Xaa Arg Gly 130 135 140 Tyr Thr Arg Lys Asp Leu 145 150 <210> SEQ ID NO 17 <211> LENGTH: 1358 <212> TYPE: DNA <213> ORGANISM: Oryza sativa <400> SEQUENCE: 17 gcacgaggtt ctaacctcgc cttctccctt ctctctctct ctctctctct ctctctctct 60 ctctctcccg aaccttctcg ccatggccga ccacgctgcg gcggaggcgg cgccgcagtc 120 gtcgcaggag gaggaggagg actggaagga ggccgagggg ggagacgggg acgtcgaggt 180 ggcggacagg ggcggcggag gcggcgccgc caatggggga atcccggagg ggaggccgat 240 ccgggtctac gcggacggaa tctacgatct cttccacttc ggccacgcca agtcgctcga 300 gcaggccaag aggctgtttc ctaacacata tctccttgtc ggatgctgca atgatgagtt 360 gacacataag tacaaaggga gaactgttat gacagaggat gagcgatatg aatcacttcg 420 tcactgcaag tgggtggatg aagtcattcc tgatgctcca tgggtggtaa cggaagaatt 480 cttgaataaa cataacattg attttgttgc acatgattct ctgccgtatg ctgatgctag 540 tggagctggt aacgatgtct atgaatttgt caaaaaactt ggtaaattta aggaaaccca 600 gcgcacagat gggatatcga cgtcagatat tataatgcgg attgttaagg attataatga 660 gtatgttatg cggaacctgg ccagggggta caccagaaag gatcttggtg tcagttacgt 720 taaggaaaaa agactgagag ttaacatggg attaaaaaac ctgcgtgaca aagtgaagca 780 gcaccaagaa aaagtagggg agaagtggaa tacaatggcg aaactccagg aagagtgggt 840 ggaaaatgca gatcgatggg ttgctggttt tctggagaag tttgaagaag gctgccactc 900 aatgggaact gccatcaaag agcggatcca agagaggctc aaggcgcaat ccagggattt 960 cagccttcta cagtatgatg gcgaggatgt tgacgaggat gaggacgacg acgaatatgt 1020 cagagaataa tgccaccact gtgaatatac gtcaagtata atatatgtac atgcgctgca 1080 tgtagcagat cttcaatcct tgggcatgtc atgcacccct ctctcttcag gaatggtgaa 1140 cttgtgcccc ccaggttaga ttttggtgct gtgttgtagc aatagcaggt gttttgttta 1200 ggctaagacg caaagtaagc ctgtaaaatc ccctagtcga tggcctgaat ggttatctgg 1260 aagatacaga tatgttcaat tatatttttg tttagcacac aagaacacta tatttcaatt 1320 gactatctac tatatttcaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaa 1358 <210> SEQ ID NO 18 <211> LENGTH: 342 <212> TYPE: PRT <213> ORGANISM: Oryza sativa <400> SEQUENCE: 18 His Glu Val Leu Thr Ser Pro Ser Pro Phe Ser Leu Ser Leu Ser Leu 1 5 10 15 Ser Leu Ser Leu Ser Leu Pro Asn Leu Leu Ala Met Ala Asp His Ala 20 25 30 Ala Ala Glu Ala Ala Pro Gln Ser Ser Gln Glu Glu Glu Glu Asp Trp 35 40 45 Lys Glu Ala Glu Gly Gly Asp Gly Asp Val Glu Val Ala Asp Arg Gly 50 55 60 Gly Gly Gly Gly Ala Ala Asn Gly Gly Ile Pro Glu Gly Arg Pro Ile 65 70 75 80 Arg Val Tyr Ala Asp Gly Ile Tyr Asp Leu Phe His Phe Gly His Ala 85 90 95 Lys Ser Leu Glu Gln Ala Lys Arg Leu Phe Pro Asn Thr Tyr Leu Leu 100 105 110 Val Gly Cys Cys Asn Asp Glu Leu Thr His Lys Tyr Lys Gly Arg Thr 115 120 125 Val Met Thr Glu Asp Glu Arg Tyr Glu Ser Leu Arg His Cys Lys Trp 130 135 140 Val Asp Glu Val Ile Pro Asp Ala Pro Trp Val Val Thr Glu Glu Phe 145 150 155 160 Leu Asn Lys His Asn Ile Asp Phe Val Ala His Asp Ser Leu Pro Tyr 165 170 175 Ala Asp Ala Ser Gly Ala Gly Asn Asp Val Tyr Glu Phe Val Lys Lys 180 185 190 Leu Gly Lys Phe Lys Glu Thr Gln Arg Thr Asp Gly Ile Ser Thr Ser 195 200 205 Asp Ile Ile Met Arg Ile Val Lys Asp Tyr Asn Glu Tyr Val Met Arg 210 215 220 Asn Leu Ala Arg Gly Tyr Thr Arg Lys Asp Leu Gly Val Ser Tyr Val 225 230 235 240 Lys Glu Lys Arg Leu Arg Val Asn Met Gly Leu Lys Asn Leu Arg Asp 245 250 255 Lys Val Lys Gln His Gln Glu Lys Val Gly Glu Lys Trp Asn Thr Met 260 265 270 Ala Lys Leu Gln Glu Glu Trp Val Glu Asn Ala Asp Arg Trp Val Ala 275 280 285 Gly Phe Leu Glu Lys Phe Glu Glu Gly Cys His Ser Met Gly Thr Ala 290 295 300 Ile Lys Glu Arg Ile Gln Glu Arg Leu Lys Ala Gln Ser Arg Asp Phe 305 310 315 320 Ser Leu Leu Gln Tyr Asp Gly Glu Asp Val Asp Glu Asp Glu Asp Asp 325 330 335 Asp Glu Tyr Val Arg Glu 340 <210> SEQ ID NO 19 <211> LENGTH: 1494 <212> TYPE: DNA <213> ORGANISM: Glycine max <220> FEATURE: <221> NAME/KEY: unsure <222> LOCATION: (1445) <400> SEQUENCE: 19 ggcacgaggc taaaaaccat ttttttaaga gaaaaacata gtatactctg aaacaatcat 60 gtagtactct tcgtcttcgt tttaagaaaa agaacatttt ggaggaaaag cgcatacgac 120 gtttgcgagc gaaattgcga tttatttatt accaaagaga agaaaaaaag agaaaagaag 180 aggcgaatgg cagatcagag cgagcattcg aaaacggcgt cgcctccgga ggaccaggac 240 cgtcccgttc gagtgtacgc ggatggcatc tacgatctct tccactttgg ccacgctcgc 300 tccctcgagc aagccaagaa atcgtttccg aatacatact tgcttgttgg gtgttgcaac 360 gatgaagtca cccacaaata caaaggcaaa actgttatga cagaggccga acgatacgaa 420 tccctgcgcc actgcaaatg ggtggatgaa gttattcctg atgccccttg ggttatcaat 480 caagagtttc ttgacaagca ctacattgac tatgtggctc atgactctct tccttatgct 540 gatgccagtg gtgctgccaa tgatgtttat gaatttgtta aatctgttgg gaggtttaag 600 gaaacaaaac ggaccgaagg aatatccacg tccgatgtta taatgaggat tgtcaaagat 660 tataaccaat atgtgctgcg gaacttggat cgtgggtact caagaaacga gcttggcgtg 720 agctatgtga aggaaaagcg actgagggtg aatagaaggt tgaaaacatt acaagagaaa 780 gtgaaggaac atcaagaaaa agttggcgaa aagatccaaa ttgttgcaaa gactgctggc 840 atgcatcgga atgagtgggt ggaaaatgct gatcgttggg tagctggttt tctggaaatg 900 tttgaagaag gttgccacaa ggatgggaca gcaattaggg atcgaattca agagaggtta 960 agaggtcagc agtcaagaga tggaccactt cgtctacaaa atggcaagga tgataaggat 1020 gacgatgatg aggagtatta ttatgatgag gaggatgata gtgatgaaga atattttgaa 1080 gaatattatg atgatgatga gcttaatcct caaaataatg gaaaagatga gaaaaaagaa 1140 taggtatact tcggtggaat tgttgggttc tcggcagaat gtcaatagca actgtccatg 1200 cgatatctgc aatattatat gcattatgtt ggatagtgga tttgaagttg cccaagggaa 1260 ctttcatttt gctagtgtgg tcaaaatttt acgtgttgaa tgctggtata cgagtgtttg 1320 tgcatatggt taattttaga tgggaaaagt accatatcct ttttattcac ttaattttgg 1380 gttctacatt ctatttcagc gttgctagct cagggaagga aaatcacaaa ttcctcgaac 1440 aatcnaacgt gaattttcac gtcccattga agtcaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaa 1494 <210> SEQ ID NO 20 <211> LENGTH: 363 <212> TYPE: PRT <213> ORGANISM: Glycine max <400> SEQUENCE: 20 Asn Asn His Val Val Leu Phe Val Phe Val Leu Arg Lys Arg Thr Phe 1 5 10 15 Trp Arg Lys Ser Ala Tyr Asp Val Cys Glu Arg Asn Cys Asp Leu Phe 20 25 30 Ile Thr Lys Glu Lys Lys Lys Arg Glu Lys Lys Arg Arg Met Ala Asp 35 40 45 Gln Ser Glu His Ser Lys Thr Ala Ser Pro Pro Glu Asp Gln Asp Arg 50 55 60 Pro Val Arg Val Tyr Ala Asp Gly Ile Tyr Asp Leu Phe His Phe Gly 65 70 75 80 His Ala Arg Ser Leu Glu Gln Ala Lys Lys Ser Phe Pro Asn Thr Tyr 85 90 95 Leu Leu Val Gly Cys Cys Asn Asp Glu Val Thr His Lys Tyr Lys Gly 100 105 110 Lys Thr Val Met Thr Glu Ala Glu Arg Tyr Glu Ser Leu Arg His Cys 115 120 125 Lys Trp Val Asp Glu Val Ile Pro Asp Ala Pro Trp Val Ile Asn Gln 130 135 140 Glu Phe Leu Asp Lys His Tyr Ile Asp Tyr Val Ala His Asp Ser Leu 145 150 155 160 Pro Tyr Ala Asp Ala Ser Gly Ala Ala Asn Asp Val Tyr Glu Phe Val 165 170 175 Lys Ser Val Gly Arg Phe Lys Glu Thr Lys Arg Thr Glu Gly Ile Ser 180 185 190 Thr Ser Asp Val Ile Met Arg Ile Val Lys Asp Tyr Asn Gln Tyr Val 195 200 205 Leu Arg Asn Leu Asp Arg Gly Tyr Ser Arg Asn Glu Leu Gly Val Ser 210 215 220 Tyr Val Lys Glu Lys Arg Leu Arg Val Asn Arg Arg Leu Lys Thr Leu 225 230 235 240 Gln Glu Lys Val Lys Glu His Gln Glu Lys Val Gly Glu Lys Ile Gln 245 250 255 Ile Val Ala Lys Thr Ala Gly Met His Arg Asn Glu Trp Val Glu Asn 260 265 270 Ala Asp Arg Trp Val Ala Gly Phe Leu Glu Met Phe Glu Glu Gly Cys 275 280 285 His Lys Asp Gly Thr Ala Ile Arg Asp Arg Ile Gln Glu Arg Leu Arg 290 295 300 Gly Gln Gln Ser Arg Asp Gly Pro Leu Arg Leu Gln Asn Gly Lys Asp 305 310 315 320 Asp Lys Asp Asp Asp Asp Glu Glu Tyr Tyr Tyr Asp Glu Glu Asp Asp 325 330 335 Ser Asp Glu Glu Tyr Phe Glu Glu Tyr Tyr Asp Asp Asp Glu Leu Asn 340 345 350 Pro Gln Asn Asn Gly Lys Asp Glu Lys Lys Glu 355 360 <210> SEQ ID NO 21 <211> LENGTH: 1423 <212> TYPE: DNA <213> ORGANISM: Triticum aestivum <400> SEQUENCE: 21 gcacgaggct tcccgtcgct cgctcccccc ctacccgaac cttctcgact ccctcttcgc 60 atggccgacg cgaaggccga ggcggcgagg caggcgcagg tgccgcagtc ctcccaggag 120 gaggaggagg actggaagga ggccgagggg gacgtcgagg ttgcggacag gtccacgagc 180 aatggcggcg gcgccggcga ggggatcacg gacaggccga tccgggtata cgccgacggc 240 atctacgacc tcttccactt cggccacgcg cgctcgctcg agcaggccaa gaaatcattc 300 cctaatgcat atcttcttgt cgggtgctgc aatgatgagt tgacacatca atacaaagga 360 agaactgtca tgacagagga cgagagatat gaatcacttc gccattgcaa gtgggttgat 420 gaagtcattc ctgacgctcc gtgggtagta acagaagagt tcttgaacaa gcataacatc 480 gattttgttg cacatgattc tctgccgtat catgatgcta gtggagctag taatgatgtc 540 tatgaatttg taaaaaagct tggtaaattt aaggagacca agcgcacaga aggaatatca 600 acctcagaca ttataatgag gattgttaaa gattataatg agtatgttat gcgcaatctg 660 gccagggggt acagcagaaa tgatcttggt gtcagctatg tcaaggaaaa acgactaaga 720 gttaatatgg gattgaaaac cctgcgtgac aaagtgaagc agcaccaaga aaaagtaggg 780 gagaagtgga gtacagtggc aaaactccag gaagagtggg ttgaaaacgc agatcgctgg 840 gttgttggtt ttctagagaa attcgaggaa ggttgccatt caatgggaac tgccatcaag 900 gaaagaatcc aggaaaggct gaaggaggcg cagtctaggg acttcagcct tctacaatac 960 gacagtgacg actttgacga ctttgaagaa gaagacgatg aagttgccaa agatgccaaa 1020 tacgtgaaag aatagcgcca ctgtaaaatt ttacgtcaaa gtataatacg ggcatgcaat 1080 gcatgttacg atcttcatca accgcaatcc ttcaccatgt atctgtccct ttgattgtga 1140 gcttcactgt caaggtagat ctgcgtgctg tgtttgtagc tgtacttgat ggttttctag 1200 gcagtagcgt acgctcttgt aatagttcta ctgtgaggca taacactgtt tatttggagg 1260 atatcgattt caattcaagt tcttattaag aagtcctgtt ccattctgta actatacttg 1320 tttattttcc atttttgaca tcaaactttg aggaagtgat aaacgactca tcctttgaat 1380 caatggctta ctctacaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaa aaa 1423 <210> SEQ ID NO 22 <211> LENGTH: 344 <212> TYPE: PRT <213> ORGANISM: Triticum aestivum <400> SEQUENCE: 22 Ala Arg Gly Phe Pro Ser Leu Ala Pro Pro Leu Pro Glu Pro Ser Arg 1 5 10 15 Leu Pro Leu Arg Met Ala Asp Ala Lys Ala Glu Ala Ala Arg Gln Ala 20 25 30 Gln Val Pro Gln Ser Ser Gln Glu Glu Glu Glu Asp Trp Lys Glu Ala 35 40 45 Glu Gly Asp Val Glu Val Ala Asp Arg Ser Thr Ser Asn Gly Gly Gly 50 55 60 Ala Gly Glu Gly Ile Thr Asp Arg Pro Ile Arg Val Tyr Ala Asp Gly 65 70 75 80 Ile Tyr Asp Leu Phe His Phe Gly His Ala Arg Ser Leu Glu Gln Ala 85 90 95 Lys Lys Ser Phe Pro Asn Ala Tyr Leu Leu Val Gly Cys Cys Asn Asp 100 105 110 Glu Leu Thr His Gln Tyr Lys Gly Arg Thr Val Met Thr Glu Asp Glu 115 120 125 Arg Tyr Glu Ser Leu Arg His Cys Lys Trp Val Asp Glu Val Ile Pro 130 135 140 Asp Ala Pro Trp Val Val Thr Glu Glu Phe Leu Asn Lys His Asn Ile 145 150 155 160 Asp Phe Val Ala His Asp Ser Leu Pro Tyr His Asp Ala Ser Gly Ala 165 170 175 Ser Asn Asp Val Tyr Glu Phe Val Lys Lys Leu Gly Lys Phe Lys Glu 180 185 190 Thr Lys Arg Thr Glu Gly Ile Ser Thr Ser Asp Ile Ile Met Arg Ile 195 200 205 Val Lys Asp Tyr Asn Glu Tyr Val Met Arg Asn Leu Ala Arg Gly Tyr 210 215 220 Ser Arg Asn Asp Leu Gly Val Ser Tyr Val Lys Glu Lys Arg Leu Arg 225 230 235 240 Val Asn Met Gly Leu Lys Thr Leu Arg Asp Lys Val Lys Gln His Gln 245 250 255 Glu Lys Val Gly Glu Lys Trp Ser Thr Val Ala Lys Leu Gln Glu Glu 260 265 270 Trp Val Glu Asn Ala Asp Arg Trp Val Val Gly Phe Leu Glu Lys Phe 275 280 285 Glu Glu Gly Cys His Ser Met Gly Thr Ala Ile Lys Glu Arg Ile Gln 290 295 300 Glu Arg Leu Lys Glu Ala Gln Ser Arg Asp Phe Ser Leu Leu Gln Tyr 305 310 315 320 Asp Ser Asp Asp Phe Asp Asp Phe Glu Glu Glu Asp Asp Glu Val Ala 325 330 335 Lys Asp Ala Lys Tyr Val Lys Glu 340 <210> SEQ ID NO 23 <211> LENGTH: 331 <212> TYPE: PRT <213> ORGANISM: Brassica napus <400> SEQUENCE: 23 Met Ser Asn Val Thr Ala Asp Pro Thr Ala Asp Gly Pro Ser Thr Ala 1 5 10 15 Val Ala Val Ser Asn Ser Thr Ala Ile Gln Thr Ser Pro Pro Thr Asp 20 25 30 Arg Pro Val Arg Val Tyr Ala Asp Gly Ile Tyr Asp Leu Phe His Phe 35 40 45 Gly His Ala Arg Ser Leu Glu Gln Ala Lys Lys Ser Phe Pro Asn Thr 50 55 60 Tyr Leu Leu Val Gly Cys Cys Asn Asp Glu Thr Thr His Lys Tyr Lys 65 70 75 80 Gly Arg Thr Val Met Thr Ala Glu Glu Arg Tyr Glu Ser Leu Arg His 85 90 95 Cys Lys Trp Val Asp Glu Val Ile Pro Asp Ala Pro Trp Val Ile Asn 100 105 110 Gln Glu Phe Leu Asp Asn His Arg Ile Asp Tyr Val Ala His Asp Ser 115 120 125 Leu Pro Tyr Ala Asp Thr Ser Gly Ala Gly Lys Asp Val Tyr Glu Phe 130 135 140 Val Lys Lys Val Gly Arg Phe Lys Glu Thr Met Arg Thr Glu Gly Ile 145 150 155 160 Ser Thr Ser Asp Ile Ile Met Arg Ile Val Lys Asp Tyr Asn Gln Tyr 165 170 175 Val Met Arg Asn Leu Asp Arg Gly Tyr Ser Arg Glu Asp Leu Gly Val 180 185 190 Ser Phe Val Lys Glu Lys Arg Leu Arg Val Asn Met Arg Leu Lys Lys 195 200 205 Leu Gln Glu Arg Val Lys Glu Gln Gln Glu Lys Val Gly Glu Lys Ile 210 215 220 Gln Thr Val Lys Met Leu Arg Asn Glu Trp Val Glu Asn Ala Asp Arg 225 230 235 240 Trp Val Ala Gly Phe Leu Glu Ile Phe Glu Glu Gly Cys His Lys Met 245 250 255 Gly Thr Ala Ile Arg Asp Arg Ile Gln Glu Arg Leu Ile Arg Gln Ile 260 265 270 Pro Arg Asn Arg Leu Glu Asn Gly Gln Asp Asp Asp Thr Asp Asp Gln 275 280 285 Phe Tyr Glu Glu Tyr Phe Asp His Asp Met Gly Ser Asp Glu Asp Glu 290 295 300 Glu Glu Arg Tyr Tyr Asp Glu Glu Glu Asp Val Glu Glu Glu Lys Tyr 305 310 315 320 Lys Thr Val Lys Pro Asp Ala Lys Asp Asp Lys 325 330 <210> SEQ ID NO 24 <211> LENGTH: 329 <212> TYPE: PRT <213> ORGANISM: Brassica napus <400> SEQUENCE: 24 Met Ser Asn Val Thr Ala Asp Pro Thr Thr Asp Gly Pro Ser Thr Ala 1 5 10 15 Val Ala Val Ser Gly Ser Ala Ala Ile Gln Ala Ser Pro Pro Thr Asp 20 25 30 Arg Pro Val Arg Val Tyr Ala Asp Gly Ile Tyr Asp Leu Phe His Phe 35 40 45 Gly His Ala Arg Ser Leu Glu Gln Ala Lys Lys Ser Phe Pro Asn Thr 50 55 60 Tyr Leu Leu Val Gly Cys Cys Asn Asp Glu Thr Thr His Lys Tyr Lys 65 70 75 80 Gly Arg Thr Val Met Thr Ala Glu Glu Arg Tyr Glu Ser Leu Arg His 85 90 95 Cys Lys Trp Val Asp Glu Val Ile Pro Asp Ala Pro Trp Val Ile Asn 100 105 110 Gln Glu Phe Leu Asp Asn His Arg Ile Asp Tyr Val Ala His Asp Ser 115 120 125 Leu Pro Tyr Ala Asp Thr Ser Gly Ala Gly Lys Asp Val Tyr Glu Phe 130 135 140 Val Lys Lys Val Gly Arg Phe Lys Glu Thr Met Arg Thr Glu Gly Ile 145 150 155 160 Ser Thr Ser Asp Ile Ile Met Arg Ile Val Lys Asp Tyr Asn Gln Tyr 165 170 175 Val Met Arg Asn Leu Asp Arg Gly Tyr Ser Arg Glu Asp Leu Gly Val 180 185 190 Ser Phe Val Lys Glu Lys Arg Leu Arg Val Asn Met Arg Leu Lys Lys 195 200 205 Leu Gln Glu Arg Val Lys Glu Gln Gln Glu Lys Val Gly Glu Lys Ile 210 215 220 Gln Thr Val Lys Met Leu Arg Asn Glu Trp Val Glu Asn Ala Asp Arg 225 230 235 240 Trp Val Ala Gly Phe Leu Glu Ile Phe Glu Glu Gly Cys His Lys Met 245 250 255 Gly Thr Ala Ile Arg Asp Ser Ile Gln Glu Arg Leu Ile Arg Gln Ile 260 265 270 Pro Arg Lys Lys Leu Glu Asn Gly Glu Asp Asp Asp Thr Asp Asp Gln 275 280 285 Phe Tyr Glu Glu Tyr Phe Asp His Asp Met Gly Ser Asp Glu Asp Glu 290 295 300 Asp Glu Arg Tyr Tyr Asp Glu Glu Glu Asp Val Glu Glu Glu Lys Ser 305 310 315 320 Val Lys Lys Asp Ala Gln Asp Asn Lys 325 <210> SEQ ID NO 25 <211> LENGTH: 326 <212> TYPE: PRT <213> ORGANISM: Brassica napus <400> SEQUENCE: 25 Met Thr Asn Val Thr Gly Asp Arg Asn Gly Asp Gly Arg Ser Thr Ala 1 5 10 15 Val Thr Glu Ser Ser Pro Pro Ser Asp Pro Pro Ile Arg Val Tyr Ala 20 25 30 Asp Gly Ile Tyr Asp Leu Phe His Phe Gly His Ala Arg Ser Leu Glu 35 40 45 Gln Ala Lys Lys Ser Phe Pro Asn Thr Tyr Leu Leu Val Gly Cys Cys 50 55 60 Asn Asp Asp Thr Thr His Lys Tyr Lys Gly Lys Thr Val Met Asn Asp 65 70 75 80 Gln Glu Arg Tyr Glu Ser Leu Arg His Cys Lys Trp Val Asp Glu Val 85 90 95 Ile Pro Asp Ala Pro Trp Val Ile Asn Gln Glu Phe Leu Asp Lys His 100 105 110 Arg Ile Ala Tyr Val Ala His Asp Ala Leu Pro Tyr Ala Asp Ala Ser 115 120 125 Gly Ala Gly Lys Asp Val Tyr Glu Phe Val Lys Lys Val Gly Arg Phe 130 135 140 Lys Glu Thr Lys Arg Thr Glu Gly Ile Ser Thr Ser Asp Ile Ile Met 145 150 155 160 Arg Ile Val Lys Asp Tyr Asn Gln Tyr Val Met Arg Asn Leu Asp Arg 165 170 175 Gly Tyr Ser Arg Glu Asp Leu Gly Val Ser Phe Val Lys Glu Lys Arg 180 185 190 Leu Arg Val Asn Met Arg Leu Lys Lys Leu Gln Glu Lys Val Lys Glu 195 200 205 Gln Gln Glu Lys Val Gly Glu Lys Ile Gln Thr Val Lys Met Val Arg 210 215 220 Asn Glu Trp Val Glu Asn Ala Asp Arg Trp Val Ala Gly Phe Leu Glu 225 230 235 240 Met Phe Glu Glu Gly Cys His Lys Met Gly Thr Ala Ile Arg Asp Arg 245 250 255 Ile Gln Glu Lys Leu Met Arg Gln Glu Ser Lys Glu Leu Leu Glu Lys 260 265 270 Gly Gln Asn Gly Gln Arg Glu Asp Thr Glu Glu Gln Phe Tyr Glu Glu 275 280 285 Tyr Phe Glu His Asp Ile Val Asp Ser Cys Glu Asp Asn Glu Asp Asp 290 295 300 Glu Glu Glu Tyr Tyr Asp Glu Ile Glu Glu Gln Cys Ser Ser Ala Ser 305 310 315 320 Lys Ala Leu Lys Ser Asn 325 

What is claimed is:
 1. An isolated polynucleotide comprising: (a) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having choline phosphate cytidylyltransferase activity, wherein the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide and the amino acid sequence of amino acids 46-363 of SEQ ID NO:20 have at least 80% identity based on the Clustal alignment method, or (b) the complement of the nucleotide sequence, wherein the complement and the nucleotide sequence contain the same number of nucleotides and are 100% complementary.
 2. The polynucleotide of claim 1, wherein the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide and the amino acid sequence of amino acids 46-363 of SEQ ID NO:20 have at least 85% identity based on the Clustal alignment method.
 3. The polynucleotide of claim 1, wherein the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide and the amino acid sequence of amino acids 46-363 of SEQ ID NO:20 have at least 90% identity based on the Clustal alignment method.
 4. The polynucleotide of claim 1, wherein the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide and the amino acid sequence of amino acids 46-363 of SEQ ID No:20 have at least 95% identity based on the Clustal alignment method.
 5. The polynucleotide of claim 1, wherein the nucleotide sequence comprises the nucleotide sequence of nucleotides 186-1140 of SEQ ID NO:19.
 6. The polynucleotide of claim 1, wherein the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide comprises the amino acid sequence of amino acids 46-363 of SEQ ID NO:20.
 7. A vector comprising the polynucleotide of claim
 1. 8. A recombinant DNA construct comprising the polynucleotide of claim 1 operably linked to a regulatory sequence.
 9. A method for transforming a cell comprising transforming a cell with the polynucleotide of claim
 1. 10. A cell comprising the recombinant DNA construct of claim
 8. 11. A method for producing a plant comprising transforming a plant cell with the polynucleotide of claim 1 and regenerating a plant from the transformed plant cell.
 12. A plant comprising the recombinant DNA construct of claim
 8. 13. A seed comprising the recombinant DNA construct of claim
 8. 